Infiterra Sports Adventure Triathlon

By Jen Trapp, XTERRA representative

(Shelby Township, MI - July 10) Beautiful weather, a fast and fun bike course, great friends and energetic fans! This is part of what makes XTERRA so awesome! Returning to Stony Creek after a two-year hiatus, XTERRA was alive and kickin’ with tons of athletes totally new to XTERRA taking part in this fun day.

The Infiterra Sports Adventure Triathlon started Sunday morning at 8am with athletes taking off on the swim in a gorgeous, flat lake with a huge crowd of spectators. With the neon green swim capped heads bobbing in the lake, the excitement of the day was just starting!

The bike course was just sweet – plain and simple, sweet. Fast, fun, super fast, and with just enough elements of surprise (you can read that to say – creek crossings, mud pits, etc) to make it challenging to the old pros, but kind enough to the middle- and back-of the packers. It twisted and it turned, and you could go for a bit just flying without even pedaling (not super fast – but you could go – it was SMOOOOOOOTH at places).

The run took you back on the start of the bike trails and then off onto more awesome single track that you missed on the bike. It was six miles of short ups and downs and stream crossings and fun! But watch out for your shoes! During the middle of the race we even saw a picture from the course from one photographer of Ellen Sauter running with her shoe in her hand – it had gotten sucked off in one creek crossing! She put it back on and kept her push for the finish (and did so quite well, I might add).

There was no slowing down for the age 40 & over guys. You have to look past the top four spots to see a 20-something year old! Jim James (43, Ann Arbor, MI) blazed through the course – doing the bike portion in less than 50 minutes! He smoked the field coming in with a 1:32:37. XTERRA Veteran Todd Scott (41, Royal Oak, MI) took second place in 1:35:52 and Arcadio Ramirez (43, Ann Arbor, MI) rounded out the top three with a 1:36:44.

As for the ladies, it was 24-year-old Julie Bellerose taking home top honors with a 1:51:14! And after losing a shoe, Ellen Sauter (40, Powell, OH) still walked away with second place in 1:55:33. Third place went to Marne Smiley (23, Ann Arbor, MI) who was the last female to finish in under two hours – she had a 1:56:15. Way to go ladies!

The XTERRA Spirit Award went to a long-time favorite of XTERRA – Brad Myers (43, Scottsburg, IN). After having to take some time off for personal reasons he has come back with all the vigor and happiness that we have come to grow and love from him. AND he was the fourth forty-something year old competitor to take the top spots on the race – he finished in 1:37:01.

Thanks to all those who participated and helped to make this a great day! It was exciting to see so many new faces and we hope to see you all more throughout the season! Check us out in less than two weeks at the new Nissan Xterra Midwest Championship in Milwaukee! Then head down to Logansport Indiana for some fun racing at the DINO Adventure Triathlon! Check out the schedule page for more details!

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