Fannin goes Two for Two at Inaugural XTERRA FT. YARGO

Post Event Report by: Andrew Marsh, Manager: XTERRA Points Series

www.goneriding.com

The 1st Annual XTERRA Ft. Yargo marks the fourth XTERRA Points Series race hosted Dave Berger and crew at Gone Riding. It’s no wonder that they moved the event from south Georgia to Winder – just north of Atlanta – as Ft. Yargo State Park proudly offers over thirteen miles of sweet, rolling, semi-tech single-track trails. Complete with a long wooden bridge that spans Marbury Creek Reservoir – this is perfect course for early season racing and XTERRA Newbies.

The wetsuit optional swim kicked off at 08:00 under perfect weather conditions. Stating that he’s “recently retired from a career in NCAA swimming and was looking for a new challenge” – Bradley Boswell (21, Knoxville) a Senior on the University of Tennessee Swim Team took time off from his volunteer work at Knoxville’s Children’s Hospital ( http://utsports.cstv.com/sports/m-swim/tenn-m-swim-body.html ) to show off his Volunteer pride by crushing all swimmers in the .5 mile swim. While first out of the water – Boswell, in his first XTERRA, was not the first to exit T1. Casey Fannin (46, Birmingham) – via finely tuned transition skills – passed Boswell to mark the best Swim/T1 stat of the day: 13:13. Kevin Grogan (34, Clermont, FL) was third quickest onto the bike course in 13:43. On the ladies side - retired ITU Pro Allison Hardy (Arden, NC) led the charge in 14:09 – fourth quickest out of the water. Julia Radmann (Smyrna, GA) was the second quickest, 16:34, woman.

Once on the bike Fannin never looked back - smoking the 10.4 mile predominately single track course in 46:46. Casey was so quick that he caught the Transition Manager napping and literally chased down him down the trail back into T2. Watch out for Jason Childre (Milledgeville, GA) – Jason had the second best bike of the day in 47:53. Ian Davidson (52, Clemson) continues to impress with a 48:17. Fannin departed T2 with a 2.5 minute lead -the men’s race was going to be for second place. Randmann posted the best bike split, 53:55, to Hardy’s 54:23. However Allison’s dominant swim enabled her to depart 5 minutes up on Radmann.

At the tape – Casey Fannin earned the win with an elapsed time of 1:29:12. Having taken the XTERRA Miami crown on April 1st Fannin is 2 for 2 in 2007 XTERRA Points Series racing. Then out of the woods – two figures appeared! It was Ian Davidson, Jr. with a half stride lead over Kevin Grogan. As they broke clear of the trees – Davidson punched it – the crowd cheered – Grogan countered and took 2nd place by a step and a half. Epic XTERRA Spirit! Grogan’s finish time – 1:31:28. Davidson – 1:31:30!

As if scripted – Allison Hardy maintained her lead – taking the title in 1:43:28 (20th OA). Not to be outdone in the XTERRA drama department - Lisa Randall (Canton, GA) used the lady’s best bike split, 53:55, and the 2nd best run, 33:42, to cover the 1.5 minute lead that Radmann had on her after T2. “And down the stretch they come!” Stride for stide – shoulder to shoulder they flew toward the finish arch. Countless attack/counter attacks later – it was Julia Radmann taking the 1st runner up spot in 1:48:33. Congrats ladies!

Checking out the stats - Nikki Shaw (Orlando, FL) in her first ever multisport event – stole the show with a 31:29 run split a full 2.5 minutes up on her nearest competitor. Erol Lassiter (71, Woodstock, GA) yet again threw down the challenge to anyone with excuses for not participating by posting a 2:04:16.

We wish to thank the YABA (Yargo Area Biking Association) and the Fort Yargo State Park for welcoming XTERRA to enjoy their excellent trails and fine hospitality. More information check out: www.yaba.homestead.com or http://gastateparks.org/net/go/parks.aspx?LocationID=61&s=0.0.1.5. Mahalo to the XTERRA First Coast (www.xterrafirstcoast.com) gang for keeping everyone safe on the swim. Thanks to Gone Riding! For race pix and additional details head to www.GoneRiding.com.

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