Saunders, Scheifele win XTERRA Dirty Grizzly

(Macungie, PA) A person could not wish for better weather than what we had at the Dirty Grizzly race. With temps in the high 60’s and never getting out of the low 70’s it was perfect for racing. The water temp was a balmy 80 degrees in the geese pond. Yes, the geese were not happy we kicked them out of their pond.

First time XTERRA participant Blair Saunders took the lead early and surprised everyone with an overall win. With an overall time of . He said “I swim,...I bike…..I run…..so why not put it all together. With a background in sprint road tri’s and crits he loves the challenge of the MTB. Despite getting off course and having to re-do the last 300 yards of the bike course he was still able to turn in the win. He said we will for sure see him again in the XTERRA series “this was too much fun not to do this again”.

For the women Cati Scheifele had some catching up to do on the bike after coming out of the water in 8th place. But this is where Cati just excels. 2 weeks ago at this very same venue placed 2nd in the Norba Bear Creek Challenge making her the Mid-Atlantic Champion for the 30-39 age group. She came into transition feeling good, but the hills on the run were a bit challenging. On the last climb on the run she saw she was being hunted and had to turn on the heat but her legs were tired and she didn’t know how much she had left. When she reached the top she said “there was a water station and the volunteer cheered me on and said “you’re almost there its all downhill from here”. And she was right so “I just allowed gravity to pull me down the hill right into the finish”. This her home course so to speak since she doesn’t live very far away. She was supported by her family who came out to cheer her on.

XTERRA Ambassador Spirit Award

The XTERRA Spirit Award was given to none other than Bruce Mclaughlin who was racing with bruised ribs. It was evident that they were causing him pain each time he came back to transition. The wincing look on his face told the story. While he was on the run (the most painful part for him) he was about ready to call it a day when he came up on Rosemary Fisher who was struggling to get up the hill. He started chatting with her and learned that she was going to just quit and come back down the hill. He stayed with her and motivated her to charge on. In the end they motivated eachother. He wanted her to finish and knew that staying with her encouraging her was the only way this would happen. This is her first triathlon with a goal of just wanting to finish. With tears in her eyes after the race she said that if it was NOT for Bruce she wouldn’t have finished or ever do another race. She gave him all the credit for her finish.

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