Crested Butte Bank XTERRA Race Report

By Circ Toepel, XTERRA Rep

Wildflowers, wild single track and seaweed gone wild.  Crested Butte hosted their 5th annual event and it was awesome!  There is a reason this race fills up more than a month in advance and over 150 participants had their fill of high altitude fun from start to finish.  With a start line at 9000’ you need plenty of red blood cells ready for action.   The residents of Skyland graciously allowed us to use their lake once again.  Like many of our high altitude lakes, the unusually wet spring caused a much higher accumulation of seaweed growing to the surface and more than a few swimmers came out of the 68 degree water with ponytails. Ashley Burt the race director worked feverishly right up to the race start to remove as much as possible using aerators and boat propellers.  The 1000 meter swim was changed to 2 laps and 1200 meters to give as clean a route as possible.  Most competitors took it in stride proclaiming just another XTERRA adventure.

Josiah Middaugh had his cells working overtime as he took the win in just 7 seconds shy of 2 hours.  His 1:06:48 bike spit was over 2 minutes faster than the rest of the field.  Josiah loves adversity and his ability to work through it is almost inimitable.  Josiah took home $600 worth of prize money and said this was a good tune up for the final 3 championship races.  Seth Wealing was 2nd for the pro men in 2:00:41 and lamented not pre riding the entire bike course because it made his race strategy “challenging at pace”.  Seth was the 1st male out of the water in 13:50.   Greg Krause from Littleton made a great race for the 300 plus spectators by being 2 seconds behind Josiah in the swim and only 6 seconds back from Seth on the bike.  His finish time of 2:03:37 gave him 3rd spot on the podium.

Local resident, Jennifer Smith, overcame a deficit in the swim to win the women’s pro field with a time of 2:17:42.  The reigning world champion, Melanie McQuaid took 2nd place in 2:24:41 and said it was very hard to race at this altitude coming from sea level, “I felt like I was going backwards all day”.  Jenny praised the great job Ashley did clearing seaweed for the swim and said it was a rough race especially the first part of the bike where she felt anaerobic.  Perhaps it had something to do with that killer hill shortly out of transition Jenny?  Maybe that’s why they call that trail upper upper.  Her 1:13:54 bike split was right up there with the big boys and Jenny said she is a bit biased but she loves this course and the rains received last week made it even better.  Sara Tarkington from Boulder rounded out the top 3 with a finish time of 2:32:49.  Honorable mention has to go to Jackie Burt who turned pro last year but has been balancing real life by not racing much this year and spending time with their kids.  Jackie received the XTERRA Spirit Award for her incessant cheering of other athletes on the course while competing herself!  Her smile and exuberant attitude are infectious and we are truly blessed to race with her.  She definitely embodies the XTERRA spirit!

The hotly contested women’s amateur race was won by Toni Axelrod from Edwards, Colorado, in 2:37:01.  Toni was 3rd out of the water behind Becky Batizy and Suzie Snyder but peeled off precious seconds in both the bike and run.  Jill Sorenson, who also seems to always have a smile said she was pushed hard by Toni today, finishing 2nd in 2:37:37.  Sage Grossi came up from Mesa, Arizona to grab the 3rd spot with a 2:41:36.  These girls all race in 30-34 and they rock!

The men’s amateur race was won by Daniel Ourada from Durango with a total time of 2:14:14.  Daniel came out of the water in 15:41, lost a little bit on the bike then put the hammer down on the run.  Jay Luke from Littleton finished in 2nd place at 2:15:50 and Taylor Carrington out of Denver, took 3rd in 2:18:15.

At the awards ceremony there were some very happy faces as everyone ate pasta from Garlic Mike’s and the$2500 prize money from Eagle Resort Development was raised to $3000.  Many thanks to all the sponsors and to the volunteers who help make this race happen.   Also, a huge thank you to co-director Tina Frerichs Kempin who kept after the details to make the race run so smooth.

Crested Butte has some of the finest single track in the universe and one of the largest purses in the XATS circuit which makes it THE place to be at the end of July.
After crossing the finish line in his first ever XTERRA, Ken Sherbenou proclaimed “I am on such a high right now, I can’t wait to train and do this again next year”.   We’ll be right there with you Ken.

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