Ace Big Canyon Off Road Triathlon

By Andrew Marsh, points series manager
Photos available at IPlayOutside.com

(Oak Hill, WV – June 16, 2005) “I have a secret weapon” warned Robert Kunz (36, Charlottesville, VA) in an email days prior to the 5th Annual ACE Big Canyon Off-Road Triathlon. I never knew pre-race what he was talking about but figured it was all about fast, as he and Konrad Heller (35, Fredericksburg, VA) blasted outta the New River in 21:00 and 21:02 after the 1.5-mile swim. True this is a downriver current, but this year the water was up just enough to take some of the "I’ll just float along and enjoy the scenery" out of the equation. You had to work a little to keep on track while minding the instructions from the swim course marshals (river guides in rubber duckies) keeping everyone in the best water. Andrew Fletcher (31, Davidson, NC) was third best outta the water in 21:30. Local multisport hero Frank Robbins (53, Beckley, WV) – the only athlete to compete in all five ACE ORTs – was fourth out in 21:51. The ladies best swims went to Whitney Johnson 22:57 (34, King George, VA), XTERRA pro champ Kristy Mantz 23:40 (34, Marlington, WV), and Kate Ventura 24:25 (29, Malvern, PA). All enjoyed the one-of-a-kind Big Canyon view on this swim. It was a blast!

Then onto the run or run/hike section. It's seven miles give or take, but with 1000’ elevation gain in the last five miles ... but who’s counting. A riverside trot gets you geared up for the climb out of the canyon. At some points it's a real climb – hand over hand scrambles – but for 99 percent it’s nice, forest dirt roads and single track. Kuntz maintained the buddy system of racing coming into T2 stride-fer-stride with Barry Lewis (46, Philadelphia, PA) in a combined time of 1:27:30. Lewis, having exited the water more than two minutes down from Kunz/Heller, picked off 13 others and posted the best run split of the day in 1:03:50. Second quickest was Henry Loving (41, Midlothian, VA) 1:04:51. Mantz passed Johnson 1:18:05 vs 1:20:51 to lead all ladies into T2. XTERRA ambassador Ellen Sauter (40, Powell, OH) posted the third-quickest run in 1:26:49.

You’ll note that generally speaking the run splits are slower then the bike. With a seven-mile run, versus a ten-mile bike, that would be expected. And given by the smiles at the finish line no one minded. This bike course is possibly one of the best in all of XTERRA. It has something for everyone – screaming downhills, crank’n ups, sweet single track, incredibly scenic overlooks, and even a few "it wouldn’t be ACE without them" mud pits. Even the famed Rigamortis Trail was DRY!!! Conditions were the best!!!

Kunz went on to take the tape in 2:25:31 with a 57:59 bike split, the best of the day. Heller was second in 2:29:20. Justin Riddle (29, Fredericksburg, VA) took third in 2:31:46 using the second-best bike (58:09). Kristy Mantz maintained the ladies lead to go 17th overall in 2:49:11, defending her 2004 pro women title. Whitney Johnson in her fourth appearance at ACE – more then any other woman in event history – took the women's age group crown in 3:05:18. Ellen Sauter, claiming "This race was haaarrrd!" took third in 3:15:01.

ACE holds a special place in XTERRA lore. It is one of the original "Dirty Dozen" points races, one of the four swim-run-bike events, one of the longest swim legs (1.5 miles) and the first race where the newly crowned XTERRA spirit
award recipient was visited by a BEAR! Mark Rhodes in his first ever XTERRA got the complete ACE experience. In his own post-race words:

"Andrew, it's true. I was loading up the car early Monday morning, movin kinda slow after my four-and-a-half hour effort. I had all the car doors open and was bringing a load out the side door of the bunkhouse, when I suddenly got a strange feeling that something very wrong was happening. I walked around the passenger-side door and saw a big, black bear’s butt sticking out of the door. I’m pretty sure I said something like “holy $#%*!”, and slowly backed into the bunkhouse door. The bear came out of the car, turned over the garbage can, didn’t find anything good and went back in the car. He grabbed a plastic grocery bag full of something and took it on up into the woods. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that he ran off with about fifty bucks worth of Endurox and E3!. That’s gonna be one energized bear!

"No one can deny that XTERRA is an amazing experience, and I am thoroughly hooked. This was the highest stories-to-weekend ratio I have ever had."

WOW! Can’t close out a race report much better then that! Thanks Mark and welcome to the XTERRA family.

The day ended with a post-race celenration. The burritos were great! The homemade ACE paddle awards are a treasure! The swag was nuts, including two complete sets of Hayes Disk Brakes and levers!

Mahalo to Beth, Tug, Jeff and the whole crew for an excellent time! The vibe at ACE is second to none. It’s always like coming home.

Oh. Almost forgot ... the secret weapon? Kunz was riding a SINGLE SPEED!

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