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XTERRA Austria Report



by Dave "The Big Kahuna" Nicholas, XTERRA managing director

The weather Gods blessed us this year in Austria. Middle Europe was getting rain and thunderstorms all week, yet the day before our race, blue skies and sunshine popped out of the gloom and things started to dry up. Mother Nature threatened on and off on race day, but the dreaded rains never appeared.

The Austrian (Achensee) venue has been changed much for the better. The new site is only 5K from the 2004 version, but is much larger, has great lake access and no busy roads to cross. As ever, the Achensee folks were superb in their organizing and hospitality. Our new village of Maurach has dozens of small hotels and pensions for every price range. And when the skies are clear the view of the Austrian Alps is simply overwhelming… shoot it’s not bad even when its cloudy; the mist hangs onto these great steep cliffs in a most unusual way.

Oh, and there was a race too. The water was chilly but not as bad as last year. A mass start had the competitors on a long beach headed straight out for a quick 700m first lap. Rather than coming on shore, competitors climbed a stairway onto a long pier, ran across the pier and down another stairway back to the beach. Pretty radical. Young German pro Andi Bocherer crushed the swim and led onto the 14K bike loop. Swiss Sybille Matter and American Allison Hardy were the first women out.

The first lap was completed quickly and Bocherer still led but was being chased by Jan Kubicek from Czech, Robert Latschen from Austria and Nico Lebrun had moved up into 4th. Bocherer first came on the scene a few years ago at XTERRA Germany. A very very quick young man; he’s only 22 now. I predict he will be on the top step of the podium by next year. Kubicek and Nico were doing all they could, but Bocherer still had a 2 minute lead coming into T2. Marc Ruhe from Liechtenstein was in perfect form and had the best bike split by over 2 minutes to pull into 4th.

Katrin Helmcke, last year’s Germany Champion led Jamie Whitmore by 20 seconds at the end of their first lap with Sybille in 3rd and Renata Bucher coming up strong in 4th. The surprise for the race was tiny Carina Wasle from Austria. Carina can’t be 100 pounds but she rode well to come off the bike 4th. Katrin and Jamie had a great battle on the bike and shadowed each other for both laps. It now came down to who could walk-run-climb the very steep sections of the run best.

Bocherer was still leading at the beginning of the second lap, but Nico could see him and Kubicek had also made up a minute and a half on the German. Very similar in the women’s race as Katrin faded back, Jamie was running strong and Renata and Carina were running like scared deer through the woods.

Nico passed a very tough Bocherer who put in a gutsy 2d lap to hold of Kubicek for second. Ruhe was passed by Austria’s Robert Latschen and settled for 5th.

Renata ran past everyone on the second lap to beat Jamie back to the line – but our little Carina was even faster than Renata (no small feat) to take 3rd place from Katrin. Hungarian duathlon world Champ Erica Csomor put in a fantastic run to take 5th.

A terrific, competitive race on a great new course. Perhaps the most fun was when an electric circuit failed and the 1,000 pound alpine inflatable arch started falling over, but quick work saved the day and everyone got through it safely. The Achensee folks were next with a terrific dinner and awards ceremony followed by a great DJ who played 70’s-80’s rock all night long. All I can say is Nico and Renata can dance as well as they can race. But you had to be there to know the whole story.
XTERRA