RACE REPORT: XTERRA Uwharrie

By: Jennifer Trapp, Assistant Manger: XTERRA Points Series

The clouds parted, the rain stopped, and the 1st Annual XTERRA Uwharrie went off without a ton of numbers, but with a ton of excitement.  Pre-race was a bit chilly and the water is choppy, but once everyone was out on the bikes, it was a gorgeous day.  Albeit, a gorgeous day filled with mud, rocks, hills, and fun!

The Uwharrie National Forest and the Badin Lake Recreation Area played host to the first ever timed event allowed on a section of trails that has just been opened up to mountain biking.  Race Director Brian Bristol and his crew have been working hard to bring this event to Uwharrie, NC and get the chance to show off these mountains less than an hour outside of Charlotte.

The day started with a 1000 meter swim in, as mentioned before, very choppy waters.  It almost seemed like a repeat of previous events this year with Casey Fannin, 47-Birmingham, AL, coming into transition first in 13:19.  He has won overall at his first two XTERRA races this year - will he do it again?  Two seconds behind him was Jeff Murray, 37-Charlotte, NC.  They had over a minute lead on Paul Blanton, 27-Fuquay Varina, who came in at 14:48.  Fourth out of the water?  That would be 2002 Ms. XTERRA Susi Chandler, back after a 4 year hiatus!  At 56 years old, Susi made it look effortless finishing the swim in 15:45 - over 2 minutes faster than the second woman, hometown girl, Kimberly Carpenter.

Then, it was off to the bike - and what an epic bike course it was.  Newly opened to mountain bikes, the athletes had to do a little sharing at times with a few horses, but they were still flying!  Brandon Jessop, 28-Cincinnati, OH,  inched a little closer to Casey with the fastest bike split of the day by two minutes.  Then, another two minutes back was Wake Fulp, 37-Kernersville, NC.  For the ladies, it was LaDawn Stevenson, 38  all the way from Breckenridge, Colorado - who came in with a smoking 2:42:49 on the bike - a full 7 ½ minutes faster than her nearest competitor.  Stephanie Grant, 28-Fletcher, NC - finished the bike leg up with a 2:50:03.  Way to go everyone - that was a TOUGH course!

The run - wow - the comments from the athletes was it was tricky, but the most beautiful run course ever!  Ronnie Joyce, 35-Mt Airy, NC - said he didn't fall at all on the bike - but fell 4 times on the run!  It was again Brandon Jessop coming in with the fastest split - 44:17 and Casey Fannin finished up with a 46:46.   Brandon crossed the finish line in first in a time of 2:57:09 and Casey was less than a minute back in 2:57:53.  What an awesome race.  Rounding out the top three was Jeff Murray coming in at 3:17:29.  LaDawn Stevenson held onto her dominant lead and finished first for the ladies in 4:10:26.  Stephanie Grant was second in 4:18:23. Awesome job.

All in all, it was a great day, full of an amazing course, tough competition, mud, sweat, and a lot of smiles!  Thanks to the folks at Middle Ring Cycles for putting on such a great event, to the Uwharrie National Forest for allowing this event to take place, to the competitors for showing up and testing their will, and to the families and friends for coming out and supporting them.  Can't wait until next year!
See you all in a couple weeks for the next SouthEast XTA event - XTERRA Smith Lake, the first XTERRA  on a military base!  Don't go off course;)

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