Carter, Coutinho Win XTERRA EX2

By XTERRA Reps Calvin & Ann Mickey

With the blistering heat that was plaguing the east coast XTERRA EX2 was promising to be a scorcher. But with the blessing of Mother Nature, a huge front came through on Friday night to cool things down for the weekend with temps only in the mid 80's.
Race morning was perfect with a damp cool air of 65 degrees the athletes started to arrive at 7am.

With a sold out field in both the Duathlon and the Triathlon there is no room to spare in transition. It was a tight squeeze but everyone made it work and probably got to know their neighbor a little better.

Kevin Carter went to work as soon as the gun went off. (finish time 2:00:48) He had a great swim but dominated on the bike. He had this to say about the bike course "I love this course with the technical climbs, rock gardens and different terrains." He was brought up in western Maryland so this was like his backyard. He came into transition over 5 minutes before another racer came into sight. Second into transition was Eric Sorensen, he knew he had to put the gas on to catch Carter but Carter had too big of a lead. While Sorensen is no stranger to a come from behind win it was not to be today and he took 2nd. XTERRA Ambassador Frank Febbraro finished 3rd with an overall time of 2:05:43.

For the women it was all Suzie Snyder. (finish time 2:13:18) With receiving her pro card just a week prior to the event she was a little nervous about racing as a Pro. But don't tell her competition that because it did NOT show. She was calm as a cucumber and she did not allow her nerves to get the best of her. With the XTERRA Mountain Championship (Beaver Creek) next weekend she was using this race as a warm up. She is no stranger to racing in a Championship race but with her pro card there are new pressures that go with it. Her goal for Beaver Creek is to break into the top 5 or 6. XTERRA Ambassador Kathleen Coutinho finished 2nd place with a time of 2:27:01 and 3rd pl was Kellyann Green with a time of 2:38:42.

On a special note last year's XTERRA Spirit Award winner Dana Brown was back again. His goal was to cut time off his finishing time from last year. He did just that with shaving more than an hour off his finish time last year despite he broke his derailer 3 ½ miles away from transition and had to run his bike in. When asked if he would be back again next year he said he wouldn't miss it.

After the race athletes were treated to pizza buffet. If you went home hungry it was your own fault! There was plenty for everyone.

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