XTERRA Philippines and South Africa Champion Bradley Weiss, the dynamic duo of Ben Allen and Jacqui Slack, and American standout Catherine Sterling are the latest in a string of XTERRA stars to announce their participation in the third annual XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship race to be held April 23 at Callala Beach in New South Wales, Australia.

“Very excited to be heading back after missing this event in 2015,” said Weiss, who is the reigning XTERRA Asian Tour men’s champion. “Training has been going really well and after a solid start to the 2016 season I am looking forward to testing my form against some of the world’s best. I will be racing in New Zealand the week before, then planning to head home after Australia before making my way to Malaysia for the Asia-Pacific Tour finale in early May.”

Sterling, who finished third at the XTERRA USA Championship race last September, comes in as America’s best-bet in the women’s field. The 40-year-old scientist (she got her PhD in genetics from Yale) recently moved to Melbourne and is working at the university.

“The job is good, I’m working in a totally different research field than I was in the states so I’m learning A LOT,” said Sterling. “Takes a while to get things going but the ball is rolling now and I’m starting to feel like a scientist again.  The work is interesting, University of Melbourne has a lot going on, and I really like my coworkers so it’s been good.”

Sterling said she loves Australia.

“What’s not to like? Great people and beautiful spot with lots of fun adventures to be had.  There is so much to explore … just a matter of finding the time to get it done. Oz is an amazing place for so many reasons – and the XTERRA lifestyle and XTERRA-folks are certainly a part of it.”

As for the racing bit, Sterling said “I’m not sure if I’m ready for it.  With the move, friends visiting, getting settled with work, finding new training grounds, etc. my training and race prep has fallen off a little.  Hopefully I’m still managing to do “just enough” to get the job done on race day.”

There are 25 pros from 10 countries on the tentative start list, including the defending XTERRA Asia-Pacific Champ and XTERRA World Championship runner-up Braden Currie, 2016 XTERRA Saipan Champions Brodie Gardner and Carina Wasle, 2016 XTERRA Philippines Champions Bradley Weiss and Lizzie Orchard, reigning ITU Cross Triathlon Australian National Champions Benny Allen and Penny Hosken, reigning XTERRA Australia Champion Jessica Simpson, reigning XTERRA Asian Tour Champion Jacqui Slack, reigning ETU European Champion Renata Bucher (who is also a 4x XTERRA European Tour Champion), XTERRA USA bronze medalist Catherine Sterling, 2015 XTERRA Sweden Champion Sam Osborne, 2016 XTERRA Motatapu Champion Olly Shaw, XTERRA Philippines National Champion Joe Miller, Korea’s lone off-road elite Kaon Cho, Malaysia’s best off-roader Barry Lee, and Hayden Wilde, who is just 18 years old and was the winner of the 15-19 division XTERRA World Championship last year.

Learn more at xterraasiapacific.com

XTERRA ASIA-PACIFIC TENATIVE PRO START LIST

Name (Alphabetical) – Age, Hometown
Ben Allen – 31, North Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Braden Currie – 29, Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand
Brodie Gardner – 29, Marcoola, QLD, Australia
Kieran McPherson – 24, Matamata, New Zealand
Cameron Paul – 25, Taupo, New Zealand
Olly Shaw – 24, Rotorua, New Zealand
Sam Osborne – 25, Rotorua, New Zealand
Aiden Dunster – 25, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
Joe Miller – 36, Cebu, Philippines
Robert Skillman – 32, Tarlo, NSW, Australia
Kaon Cho – 33, Jeju, South Korea
Bradley Weiss – 27, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Hayden Wilde – 18, Whakatane, New Zealand
Noah Wright – 41, Austin, Texas, USA
Barry Lee – 23, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Name (Alphabetical) – Age, Hometown
Renata Bucher – 38, Lucerne, Switzerland
Elizabeth Orchard – 30, Auckland, New Zealand
Jessica Simpson – 27, East Corrimal, NSW, Australia
Jacqui Slack – 32, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, GBR
Carina Wasle – 31, Kundl, Austria
Catherine Sterling – 38, Ayer, Massachusetts, USA
Penny Hosken – 28, Ringwood North, VIC, Australia
Sarah Backler – 33, Tauranga, New Zealand
Holly Khan – 30, Cooranbong, NSW, Australia

THREE RACES LEFT IN XTERRA ASIA-PACIFIC TOUR

The 2015-2016 XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour that started last year at XTERRA Japan in Hokkaido and continued this season with XTERRA Philippines and XTERRA Saipan, will wrap with its final three races at XTERRA New Zealand (April 16), XTERRA Asia-Pacific Champs in Australia (April 23), and the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour finale in Langkawi, Malaysia on May 7. Here’s a look at the current elite standings in the APAC Tour:

PL NAME TOT 1 Takahiro Ogasawara, JPN 247 2 Brodie Gardner, AUS 182 3 Charlie Epperson, USA 144 4 Joe Miller, PHI 135 5 Kaon Cho, KOR 128 6 Cameron Oneal, USA 121 7 Courtney Atkinson, AUS 100 8 Bradley Weiss, RSA 100 9 Cedric Lassonde, FRA 90 10 Ben Allen, AUS 90 11 Taro Shirato, JPN 69 12 Michal Bucek, SVK 63 13 Hsieh Jason, HKG 58 14 Barry Lee, MAS 49


PL NAME TOT 1 Mieko Carey, USA 272 2 Lizzie Orchard, NZL 190 3 Carina Wasle, AUT 100 4 Jacqui Slack, GBR 90 5 Renata Bucher, SUI 82 6 Belinda Hadden, AUS 75

Learn more at http://www.xterraplanet.com/asian-tour/

The post Stars Abound for XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship on April 23 appeared first on XTERRA.

Source | Back to News