2006 XTERRA Euskadi Championship

LLANOS WINS IN EUSKADI

Younger Llanos Steals the Spotlight


by Dave "Kahuna" Nicholas, XTERRA managing director

(Euskadi, SPAIN) - It would be no news if Eneko Llanos won another XTERRA event.  But it is news when his brother Hecktor, an Ironman specialist, wins.  The Basque brothers were favored in this race near their home town, but German/Portugese pro Nico Pfitzenmaier put a big scare into their plans.

The day started with all competitors open-jawed as they faced 6-10 foot waves off the Bakio surf beach.  All week the ocean had been flat, but on this morning as the tide went out, beautiful right hand curls of 4' at the shore break and up to 10' on the outside made racers nervous.  As expected, everyone got pounded but all made it to the first buoy situated outside the breaks.  Eneko, Hecktor and German Sasha Wingenfeld along with Bernat Moragas all came out of the water in just over 16 minutes.  A quick transition, a short burst through some local shops and then a grueling 50-stair climb is how you start Euskadi.  Nico came into T1 two minutes after the leaders but quickly overcame their advantage to lead the first lap handily.  But wait !  That wasn't Eneko shadowing the Pfitzy - it was Hecktor Llanos.  Eneko came by not far behind the leaders and was favoring his right hand.  Turns out the two time World Champ had hit hard against a stone wall and cut it badly.

For the women, Spanish pro Nerea Martinez led Austrian Carina Wasle out of the water.  Renata Bucher was just over two minutes behind this pair, but the queen of XTERRA Europe was not about to have anybody upset her perfect winning record today.  She set out quickly on the very first climbs and secured her lead early to win the women's prize and take 11th overall.  Carina raced well for her second second place in a row.  Injured early in the season, last years Champion of Germany is getting healthy and we expect her to give Renata a good run in a few weeks in Denmark.

A huge thunderstorm had shaken up not just Bakio, but all of northern Spain and much of southern France, knocking down trees and even shutting down some airports.  What had been a well organized progression of marking the bike and run trails now turned into a "fix everything as quick as we can."  Part of the run was in a deep, walled stream that takes water from the mountains to the ocean. 
The neat part is that the tides in this part of the world are about four feet.  Part of the day, the run course is under water, but the run is scheduled to happen at low tide when the basin is dry and it becomes a 1K trail.   Err, except for that huge storm leaving water continually streaming in from the Euskadi hills.  A local construction company donated a bunch of palettes and two-meter wood forms and a crew waited patiently until after the race started and the water receded to make a snaking path through the mud and water.  But hey, this is XTERRA and we heard not one word of complaint.

Back to the men's race:  Nico came off the bike with a minute lead over Hecktor and another over Eneko.  After transition, everyone was waiting for the very fast Llanos brothers to simply run past Pfitzenmaier, but to our surprise, Nico still led after the first lap of this very unusual run.  But the local boys were not to be denied on their home course and were waiting for the right time to pounce.   About half way through the last lap Nico was relegated to 3rd place to finish just 1 minute from the lead and 20 seconds behind Eneko.

So the second XTERRA Spain Championship is in the books.  The Basque country, or as it is called locally, Euskadi, is simply beautiful.  The capitol city of Bilbao has easy air service to almost anywhere and has some spectacular architecture.  The countryside is hilly and green.  The food is not what you would expect - it's far better.  You've never eaten a tortilla until you've had one in Euskadi.

The bike course is quite technical with some very fun downhills, lots of climbs and fantastic scenery high above the coastline.  The run takes you smack down the middle of the area's most popular beach with literally several thousand people surrounding the course. 

A fantastic part of the world and just another great excuse to experience the world through the eyes of  XTERRA. . . there are thousands out there just like you.  Live More.

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