XTERRA Spain Report

RESULTS

by Dave "Kahuna" Nicholas, XTERRA managing director

There is an old expression about making sure what you wish for… and as racers we always wish for a clear, sunny day. Not too hot, nice breeze. This is exactly what we got at the marvelous seaside village of Bakio on the Atlantic in the heart of Euskdi (or Basque country) in Spain.

Not only did the XTERRA racers get a great day, they shared it with about 25,000 of their best friends and beachgoers. Bakio is known for great surf and a 1K+ long white sand beach. And on what must be one of the last days of summer, people came from miles around. All this sounds good until you realize the run course filtered through the gauntlet of these 25,000. Yes, the final 1K of the run course (two laps) was on the same beach as most of northwestern Spain.

Two time Nissan Xterra World Champion Eneko Llanos lives only 60K from Bakio and is a local hero. He faced some very strong competition from Olivier Marceau, Nico Lebrun, Germany’s Ronnie Dietz, Marc Ruhe from Liechtenstein and his own brother Hektor Llanos.

Hektor withdrew Saturday morning with back and neck problems, but the rest of the field was ready to take on some nice two-foot shore break waves. The swim started with a 100m run into the surf, and then a hard right turn to the first buoy. The thundering herd had no patience with the marshals, who wanted them to swim against the current. Hundreds of wetsuited bodies simply turned and ran on the beach until they were parallel with the first buoy…so much for the Euskadi Triathlon Union officials.

Eneko and Olivier were first and second out of the swim, shadowed by Spaniard David Castro Inglesias. Sybille Matter put a hurt on the women’s field with the eighth fastest overall time and a lead of almost three minutes from Holland’s Ingrid van Lubek and Spain’s Nerea Martinez. Sybille’s closest two challengers, Euro Tour leader Renata Bucher and American Melissa Thomas were far behind coming out of the deep swells of the Atlantic.

Marceau and Llanos were tied together at the end of the first bike lap with the Basque Champion just a dozen meters in front. It stayed about the same coming into T2, with Llanos just a scant ten seconds in the lead.

Olivier Marceau passed hometown hero Llanos to win the inaugural running of XTERRA Spain. Lebrun earned a respective third-place finish. German Ronnie Dietz came home fourth after a good battle with Marc Ruhe. Ruhe swims like a rock, but bikes like a rocket, and it took a strong run from Ronnie to keep fourth. Javier Garcia, a duathlon champion had a great bike and run to come home sixth and first from Spain. 

For the women, Sybille won by playing it very smart on the bike, losing only five of the eleven-minute lead she had from Bucher. Renata had spent all of her energy on the fun, but technical and difficult bike and consolidated her European Championship lead by keeping second place through the finish. Melissa passed Ingrid into third on the bike and was able to keep that place to the end with van Lubek a solid fourth and Nerea Martinez home in fifth.

So, our first introduction into Euskadi-Spain is complete. Everyone loves this village, the people, the course (especially the bike) the beach and the food. This is a very special place. Easy to get to – fly into Bilbao, only 25 minutes away - or Madrid an easy four hours. The scenery is spectacular with high bluffs overlooking the sea. The forest is fat with Eucalyptus trees and great trails. I discovered a phenomenal food group called "Tortilla" which has nothing in common with El Taco Bell, but are more like deep dish pizza’s (with eggs and ham or tuna or crab and cheese). Unbelievably great tasting! Oh, did I mention they cost about two bucks!! The coffee is strong and plentiful, the wine very dry and tart and the beer cold. In Spain they understand the North American concept of ICE and you can actually get a cold Pepsi or Coke on ice… What about the girls on the beach? I say nothing. Add one more "must do" to your list of XTERRA places to go. This is a big winner.

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