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XTERRA Heads to Heart of Arkansas

Some of the world’s best all-around athletes are gathering in North Little Rock, Arkansas this week to compete in the inaugural XTERRA South Central Cup off-road triathlon on Saturday.

The course at Burns Park (one of the largest municipal parks in America) is pure XTERRA with a swim in Victory Lake - an enclosed waterskiing section of the Arkansas River - a mountain bike course comprised of 80% rocky, twisty, tree-lined single track, and a cliff-climbing, meadow-meandering trail run with panoramic views of Little Rock.

"The course is fabulous, and very similar to the Southeast Cup in Pelham, Alabama with almost the entire race comprised of twisting singletrack," said Cup Series leader Melanie McQuaid (pictured) who is in town pre-riding. "It's very rolling with larger hills than Richmond but nothing as long as the road climb in Alabama.  There is a very high "flat" potential as there are numerous embedded rocks in the course that may be a problem."

The XTERRA South Central Cup is race No. 6 in the eight-stop nationwide XTERRA Cup Series for pros, and with just three races remaining, the pressure is on.

After suffering a sizeable (7-stitch) gash to the top of his foot at Sunday’s XTERRA Atlantic Cup in Richmond, Virginia (which he won anyway), Cup Series leader Conrad “the Caveman” Stoltz will sit this race out.  Stoltz is recovering nicely from surgery to clean the wound, and you can get the latest info on his website, www.conradstoltz.com.

His absence opens the door for countryman and protégé Dan Hugo. The sports young South African star, at 23-years-old, won his first XTERRA Championship on the America circuit just two weeks ago at the Northwest Cup in Idaho. The other four race wins have all belonged to Stoltz.  With a victory here in Arkansas, Hugo (in theory) could still win the rest of the races and enter the finale – the XTERRA USA Championship in Utah on Sept. 26 – in a points tie for 1st with Stoltz.  It would be a remarkable feat, especially considering the quality and depth of the field around him.

Foremost is America’s greatest hope, four-time national champ Josiah Middaugh from Vail, Colorado who has finished second three times this season, and third in the other race.  Canadian Mike Vine is fourth in the Series, behind the aforementioned trio, and proved he’s capable of the top step on any given day after taking down all of them at last year’s USA Championship race.  France’s Nico Lebrun, the 2005 XTERRA World Champ and three-time XTERRA European Tour Champ, was a minute away from a win in Richmond on Sunday and placed second the week before in Idaho.  Colorado stand-outs Seth Wealing and Brian Smith have also won their share of big races, and seem just about due to breakout in 2009.  Men's pro start list:

‘09 Rank (after 5) - Name - Age, Hometown
2 - Dan Hugo - 24, Stellenbosch, South Africa
3 - Josiah Middaugh - 30, Vail, Colorado
4 - Mike Vine - 35, Victoria, B.C., Canada
5 - Nicolas Lebrun - 35, Digne-les-Bains, France
6 - Craig Evans - 31, Spring Hill, Tennessee
7 - Seth Wealing - 30, Boulder, Colorado
9 - Will Kelsay - 27, Boulder, Colorado
11 - Brian Smith - 33, Gunnison, Colorado
12 - Matt Boobar - 36, Stratton Mountain, Vermont
NR - Damian Gonzalez - 32, Stockton, California

In the women’s race Canadian Melanie McQuaid, a 3-time XTERRA World Champ, has been simply unstoppable.  Five Cup races, five Cup wins in 2009.  She’s won nine of her last 11 since the start of ‘08, and 23 XTERRA Championships in her career. 

One of America’s all-time greatest cyclists and the most successful mountain biker in NORBA history, Shonny Vanlandingham, has one of those two race victories McQuaid didn’t get, and is the most likely candidate to steal another one from McQuaid here.  “Shonny V” rides for Orbea and how cool would it be to win big in their backyard (Orbea USA is headquartered in Little Rock).

Others in the chase include mountain bike specialist Jenny Smith from New Zealand and swimming star (she’ll come out of the water with the lead men) Christine “Big Fish” Jeffrey from Canada. Also of note is Olympian Rebecca Dussault (2006 Winter Olympics) from Colorado, who is in her first-year racing in the off-road circuit and showing signs that she’s figuring it all out (placed 6th in last two races).   Women's Pro Start List:

‘09 Rank - Name - Age, Hometown
1 - Melanie McQuaid - 35, Victoria, B.C., Canada
2 - Shonny Vanlandingham - 39, Durango, Colorado
4 - Jenny Smith - 36, Westport, New Zealand
7 - Christine Jeffrey - 36, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
8 - Alexandra Borrelly - 33, Digne-les-Bains, France
9- Erin Kummer - 24, Rochester Hills, Michigan
10 - Rebecca Dussault - 28, Crested Butte, Colorado
12 - Jari Kirkland - 32, Crested Butte, Colorado