XTERRA Eureka Springs Report

By Fred Phillips, XTERRA Rep

If you’re looking for a mini vacation race, this is it!

Eureka Spring itself is a getaway vacation location.  Lots of places to stay, B&B’s Motels, Hotels and Camping, and is nestled in the Northwest corner of Arkansas smack dab in the heart of the Ozark Mountains.

The Race Venue is Lake Leatherwood, which has nearly 20 miles of off road trails.  You’ll find some hard climbs, some technical rocky sections and a ton of sweet single track in between. 

Race Day itself started out in the mid 60’s and did not exceed 80 during the heat of the day.  A little Cloud cover helped to keep things shaded and comfortable.   The Course is comprised of a ½ mile swim a 13 mile bike and a 5 mile run.

One thing you find is that Arkansas has good clean water to swim in and Lake Leatherwood was not the exception.  The Bike Course contains several hard climbs a few technical (rocky) sections and one mandatory dismount spot.  But up hills mean sweet down hills.  And there were some great sections where you can let it rip and suck the bark of the trees in your wake….  The Run Course use portions of the Bike course an it too had several hard climbs, some technical sections and stretch the legs out down hills.

On the men’s side the race started with Samuel Yount of St. Louis MO, having the fastest swim of the day at 12:31.  Tige Lamb of Lenexa KS had the fastest bike of the day at 1:11:52 which is and average of 10.9 mph.  Tige also had the 2nd fastest run of the day at 42:24 for the hilly 5 miles to take the overall win in 2:10:54, setting a new course record.

On the women side the fastest swim of the day came from Sarah Kaminski of Tulsa OK, in 15:12.  The Fastest Bike Split of the day came from Cynthia Petty of Strafford MO, in 1:41:34 she also had the 3rd fastest run of the day at 1:00:28, to take the overall win in 3:07:51 .  The fastest Run of the day for the women came from Karen Martin of Jonesboro in  59:31

All together the Nick Cross the Race Director put together a truly quality event.

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