XTERRA Eureka Springs Race Report

By Fred Phillips, XTERRA Rep

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

Eureka Springs itself is a great getaway vacation location.  Lots of places to stay, B&B's, Motels, Hotels and Camping, and it 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.  Can you say "Tuff Course."  Let's examine this. The winning Male time was 2:225:03 by Sam Yount of St Louis MO.  He swam 800 yards, biked 13 miles and ran 4.7 miles. The winning Female, Jocelyn Wood of Broken Arrow OK, came across the line about 30 minutes later at 2:54:15.

Race Day started out in the mid 60's and reached the mid 80's during the heat of the day.  A little cloud cover helped to keep things shaded and comfortable.

This was pure Ozark hospitality.  How many times have you crossed the finish line to live traditional Hill Billy tunes from a 3 man Ozark string band consisting of a Fiddle, a Banjo and a Bass Fiddle.  This was cool!

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 used portions of the bike course and it too had several hard climbs, some technical sections and stretch the legs out down hills.

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

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