Dillon and Maguire Find Victory at Vail Lake

(Temecula, CA) – More than 250 runners from eight states, Canada and Mexico took part in the XTERRA 5km, 10km, and 21km trail runs at Vail Lake Resort in Temecula, CA this morning. With temperatures reaching into the high 90’s, no shade at all on the course, and several hundred feet of climbing through the rolling hills of Temecula’s wine country, this morning’s runs were no walk in the park.

The men’s 21k winner was 23-year-old Benjamin Dillon, an active U.S. Navy man from San Diego, CA (via Louisiana). It was the first big victory for Dillon, who took up running just after high school. Dillon’s time of 1:51:05 was a full two minutes ahead of runner-up Jamison Smith of Alta Loma, CA.

"I was really surprised to do so well,” said Dillon. “I knew with the heat I had to go out slow for the first part of the run and conserve energy, and that really paid off towards the end of the race as the leaders started to fall back."

In the women’s race 49-year-old Judy Maguire from Idyllwild, CA put in a late race surge to pass dozens of racers, including a handful of the lead men. Maguire, a stand-out road runner in Florida during the 1990’s, finished third overall and crossed the line in 1:53:08, more than a minute ahead of Beth Gerdes from San Diego.

"I really just started to run trails recently and we’ve got lots of hills in Idyllwild to train on so I was comfortable with the climbing on this course."

With the victory, Maguire won roundtrip airfare to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines as part of the company’s push to get more women out and active. "That's really neat, I think I might just have to use that ticket to do the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship race in December."

Complete results from today’s race are attached and more information can be found online at www.xterratrailrun.com. Media interested in photos from this event should contact emily@xterraplanet.com.
The XTERRA West Championship continues tomorrow with the main, off-road triathlon event alongside the off-road sport distance triathlon and duathlon events.

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