XTERRA Real Race Report

By Kirk Ermels, XTERRA Representative

Though it was likely the first race out of the gates for many XTERRA athletes this season, the Real Mountain Bike Triathlon (Sunday, April 1, Roseville, CA) saw a number of competitors, as well as their hosts, in mid season form already.  The long-time XTERRA Southwest region season kick-off race saw over three hundred athletes show up to test themselves against the best Mother Nature had to offer.  And Mother Nature for one did not disappoint, providing beautiful sunny skies and a course that is best described quite simply as fun.

With hard-pack trails, fast turns, and quick hills, the trails near Granite Bay at Folsom Lake are a speedsters dream.  However, the technical rocks and sandy washes offer just enough challenge for even an expert cyclist over the 16-mile double lap course.  Not to mention the 3.5-mile run course with its quad-burning climbs and open-field flats.

The day got off to a great start when Tom Monica (Walnut Creek, CA) was the first to lap the half-mile swim course in a time of 11:44.  The race began to truly shape up on the bike as reigning Mr. XTERRA Courtney Cardenas (Somerset, CA) came off the bike with a narrow lead over Damian Gonzalez (Stockton, CA) and Phillip Glenn, (Reno, NV) who had the fastest overall bike split in 1:11:41.  With Cardenas succumbing to leg cramps on the run, it became a battle between Glenn and Gonzalez.  Glenn wound up pulling away on the run to win in an overall time of 1:49.14, with Gonzalez second in 1:50:02.  Paul Roach of San Mateo, CA had the men’s fastest run split with a time of 23:15.

Much to no one’s surprise, the women’s field was dominated by XTERRA legend Jamie Whitmore (Somerset, CA), who swept the swim (12:54), bike (1:13:45), and run (25:47) splits en route to an overall time of 1:52:26.  Katrin Tobin (Santa Cruz, CA) was able to match Whitmore’s run time while finishing second in 2:03:46 and Emma Gerrard (Truckee, CA) was third in a time of 2:09:48.

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