Sign up for our free newsletter:

Stoltz, Vanlandingham Win XTERRA Southeast Champs

(Oak Mountain State Park - Pelham, Alabama) - Conrad Stoltz and Shonny Vanlandingham (pictured here at "Blood Rock") broke out their 29’er mountain bikes and won the XTERRA Southeast Championship at Oak Mountain State Park on a smoking hot day in Pelham, Alabama this afternoon.

It was the hottest weekend of the year here in the South with temps in the mid-90’s and humidity that made it feel even hotter.  It was so warm that Stoltz, who won his third straight on the 2010 XTERRA America Tour and fourth in a row here in Shelby County, put ice cubes under his swim cap before the race got started.

“And they melted before I got to the first buoy,” he explained.   The real story of the day, however, was about the mountain bikes with big wheels.

“I’m real proud of my 29’er,” said Stoltz.  “It’s the first time I’ve used it in an XTERRA and it worked brilliantly.  On a bumpy course like this the bigger tires ride better.  They have a bigger contact patch with the ground that gives you better traction.  You don’t have to brake as much so you can keep your momentum rolling.  It’s like an extra suspension, and because it’s so smooth you don’t get as tired.”

Stoltz’ success isn’t all about the bike, however, as all of the top five men were riding 29’ers.  It’s more about the rider, and the mad skills the “Caveman” has to handle technical mountain bike courses like this epic trail created by BUMP (Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers).

“I really have to thank BUMP for designing such an excellent bike course.  This course suits me better than any course ever made,” said Stoltz.

The day started out, as it has for the past several years, with Craig Evans getting an early jump on the bike and holding off Stoltz until somewhere around the 9-mile mark.

“I was having a hard time concentrating and couldn’t focus in the beginning, just thinking about all the wrong things, and didn’t catch Craig until the top of the big climb,” said Stoltz.

When the course started going down, it was all over.  Josiah Middaugh, who was in third place behind Evans, said he was riding well and about two minutes behind Stoltz before the start of the downhill near the famous “Blood Rock” section.  By the time Stoltz got to the bike-to-run transition, he was three minutes up on Evans and four minutes ahead of Middaugh.   His 1:21:18 bike split was more than two-and-a-half minutes faster than the second-best time, Middaugh’s 1:23:52.

“He’s a great technical rider, and can go really fast in the twisty stuff,” said Middaugh.  To make things worse for everyone else, BUMP rolled out a new three-mile section of tree-lined switchbacks to this year’s course, giving Stoltz’ even more time in his element.   That said, there was still a run to deal with, a grueling, hilly “death march” type of run that Middaugh excels at.

“The run is probably the hardest I’ve ever done,” said Stoltz. “I think I had a four minute lead on Josiah, and in the beginning I thought it’ll be pretty easy, I’ll just keep going and take it, but by halfway through I was thinking ‘I don’t care if Josiah catches me, I just don’t want to die.”

Middaugh did make up about a minute-thirty on Stoltz with the fastest run of the day (40:02), and was able to catch Evans to move into 3rd by about mile three, but ultimately fell two-minutes 27 seconds behind the winning time of Stoltz (2:21:27).

Evans stayed strong for 3rd, duplicating his best career finish had here in ‘Bama in 2008 (not bad for a guy with two kids who spends 50-to-60 hours a week in a “real world” job).

Seth Wealing (pictured at Blood Rock) was solid all around for fourth, and Cody Waite posted his best performance of the season to finish fifth.  Also of note, Will Kelsay came in 6th, his best championship race result in eight years with XTERRA, plus Scott Gall was 7th, Kevin Carter 8th, and Damian Gonzalez 9th – also personal bests.

WOMEN’S RACE

A week ago Shonny Vanlandingham won the BUMPnGrind mountain bike pro race on these same trails.  Today, she added a swim and run, but the result was the same – victory.

In 2008 Vanlandingham won her first-ever XTERRA on this course.  Two years later her bike riding is just as good, but now she can run with the best of them, and isn’t losing as much time on the swim.

“The swim is still a work in progress, but hey I came out under three minutes behind Melanie which is good for me,” said Vanlandingham, who was the 10th woman and 32nd racer out of the water but passed all but the top five men to finish an unprecedented 6th overall today.

Christine Jeffrey was once again first out of the water, and pulled men’s swim leader Craig Evans for about the final seven minutes, “I was taking a nice bubble bath,” said Evans after the race.

Melanie McQuaid, the defending and two-time champ on this course and recent winner of the XTERRA European Championship in Italy, was two minutes behind Jeffrey out of the water but took the lead on the bike early on, and maintained until near the halfway point when Vanlandingham arrived.

“I caught Melanie on the long climb, and thought if I could keep the pace it’d be a good day,” said Vanlandingham.  Indeed she did, posting a 1:28:50 on her brand new 29’er.  McQuaid had the second best split, a 1:32:55, on her 26-inch bike.

“Just two weeks ago Orbea launched their 29’er and this is my first XTERRA race with it and I love it,” said Vanlandingham.  “It’s got such good traction, let’s you carry your speed and momentum and it weighs the same as my 26” hardtail.”

Vanlandingham took a good lead into the run, and then built on it, posting the second best split in 45:02, just 49 seconds off Emma Garrard’s time.  She strolled across the finish line in 2:38:02, more than four-minutes ahead of McQuaid, for her second XTERRA America Tour win this year (She also won the West Champs).

“I’m getting shelled on the bike,” said McQuaid, who won the first five races in the XTERRA America Tour last year, but hasn’t notched a victory in the U.S. yet in 2010.  “I don’t have any excuses though.  Shonny is riding strong and these courses are all about the bike.  But, I’d like to make an adjustment and mix in a 29’er for Richmond.”

Lesley Paterson finished third and in the top three for the sixth straight race, with 4-time XTERRA European Tour champ Renata Bucher in 4th, and Emma Garrard in 5th.

Note:  The race consisted of a warm-water swim in the 80+ degree water at Double Oak Lake, a 20-mile single loop mountain bike course on the BUMP trails, and a punishing six-mile up-and-down forest run.  “Hats off to everyone who completed this course, this is definitely the hardest course all year.  It’s very demanding because of the temperatures and humidity and technicality of it,” said Conrad Stoltz at the award ceremony.  “It’s a wonderful venue though, and we love the South, love Alabama.”
Complete Results.  Images.

TOP PRO MEN    
 

Pl	Name	Age	Hometown	Time	Pts	Purse
1	Conrad Stoltz	36	Stellenbosch, South Africa	2:21:27	100	$1,800
2	Josiah Middaugh	31	Vail, Colorado	2:23:54	90	$1,250
3	Craig Evans	32	Hendersonville, Tennessee	2:26:55	82	$800
4	Seth Wealing	31	Boulder, Colorado	2:31:20	75	$500
5	Cody Waite	31	Lakewood, Colorado	2:33:53	69	$400
6	Will Kelsay	28	Boulder, Colorado	2:40:05	63	$300
7	Scott Gall	35	Cedar Falls, Iowa	2:40:24	58	$200
8	Kevin Carter	36	College Park, Maryland	2:40:46	53
9	Damian Gonzalez	34	Stockton, California	2:47:26	49
10	Ryan DeCook	30	Rochester, MI	2:43:18	45

Also:  Matt Boobar (41),  Trevor Glavin (37)  
 
TOP PRO WOMEN  
 

Pl	Name	Age	Hometown	Time	Pts	Purse
1	Shonny Vanlandingham	40	Durango, Colorado	2:38:02	100	$1,800
2	Melanie McQuaid	36	Victoria, B.C., Canada	2:42:05	90	$1,250
3	Lesley Paterson	29	Sterling, Scotland (San Diego)	2:46:28	82	$800
4	Renata Bucher	32	Lucerne, Switzerland	2:49:41	75	$500
5	Emma Garrard	28	Truckee, California	2:49:57	69	$400
6	Christine Jeffrey	37	Guelph, Ontario, Canada	2:55:06	63	$300
7	Fabiola Corona	30	Mexico City, Mexico	3:00:02	58	$200
8	Tracy Thelen	31	Colorado Springs, Colorado	3:02:19	53

  

XTERRA U.S. PRO SERIES UPDATE

Stoltz keeps rollin’, and stays undefeated with his third straight win, with Josiah Middaugh placing second for the third race in a row.  Those two are making it tough for anyone else to contend for the overall at the USA Championship in Utah on Sept. 25.  Without Nico Lebrun (previously 3rd) in the line-up, Craig Evans, Cody Waite, and Ryan DeCook each moved up a spot to No. 3, 4, and 5, respectively.  Boosted by his best finish ever Will Kelsay jumped into the top 10 at No. 10.

There was no movement among the top 5 women, but Shonny V put another 10 points between herself at Melanie McQuaid with the win, and Lesley Paterson leapfrogged past Tracy Thelen into 6th.

UP NEXT: The XTERRA East Championship in Richmond, VA next Sunday, June 20, followed by the July 17  XTERRA Mountain Championship at Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, CO.  The 2010 XTERRA U.S. Pro Series consists of six events - five regional championships and Nationals.

The top 15 pros at each event are awarded points based on overall pro finish.  Pros count their best four-of-five scores plus the points they get (or don’t get) at the XTERRA USA Championship in Utah. Thus, the final point total combines an athletes’ best four scores in the first five races, plus the USA Championship race points.  He/she with the most points in the end is declared the U.S. Pro Series Champ. The U.S. Series will dish out $132,500 in prize money: $10,500 at each regional, $20,000 at the USA Championship, and $60,000 to the top overall points scorers in the Series. The XTERRA World Championship Oct. 24 in Makena, Maui is a stand-alone event worth $100,000.

2010 XTERRA U.S. PRO SERIES STANDINGS (AFTER 3)  

Pl	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Purse
1	Conrad Stoltz, RSA	100	100	100				300	$5,400
2	Josiah Middaugh, USA	90	90	90				270	$3,750
3	Craig Evans, USA	58	75	82				215	$1,500
4	Cody Waite, USA	63	63	69				195	$1,000
5	Ryan DeCook, USA	49	69	45				163	$400
6	Nico Lebrun, FRA	69	82	DNR				151	$1,200
7	Seth Wealing, USA	75	DNR	75				150	$1,000
8	Trevor Glavin, USA	53	49	37				139
9	Damian Gonzalez, USA	31	37	49				117
10	Will Kelsay, USA	DNP	53	63				116	$300
11	Branden Rakita, USA	45	58	DNR				103	$200
12	Scott Gall, USA	DNR	45	58				103	$200
13	Brian Smith, USA	82	DNR	DNR				82	$800
14	Matt Boobar, USA	DNR	41	41				82
15	Kevin Carter, USA	DNR	DNR	53				53
16	Julian Langer, AUT	41	DNR	DNR				41
17	Jordan Bryden, CAN	37	DNR	DNR				37
18	Brad Zoller, USA	34	DNR	DNR				34
19	Grayson Keppler, RSA	DNR	34	DNR				34
20	Sean Bechtel, CAN	28	DNR	DNR				28

 

Pl	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Purse
1	Shonny Vanlandingham, USA	100	90	100				290	$4,850
2	Melanie McQuaid, CAN	90	82	90				262	$3,300
3	Renata Bucher, SUI	63	100	75				238	$2,600
4	Christine Jeffrey, CAN	75	69	63				207	$1,200
5	Emma Garrard, USA	58	75	69				202	$1,100
6	Lesley Paterson, GBR	82	DNR	82				164	$1,600
7	Tracy Thelen, USA	49	53	53				155
8	Fabiola Corona, MEX	37	DNR	58				95	$200
9	Rosemarie Gerspacher, CAN	69	DNR	DNR				69	$400
10	Shae Rainer, USA	DNR	63	DNR				63	$300
11	Christie Sym, AUS	DNR	58	DNR				58	$200
12	Sara Tarkington, USA	53	DNR	DNR				53
13	Daz Parker, GBR	45	DNR	DNR				45
14	Katie Ellis, USA	41	DNR	DNR				41

 
 
1 = XTERRA West Championship (Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort, NV) - April 25
2 = XTERRA South Central Championship (Waco, TX) - May 23  
3 = XTERRA Southeast Championship (Pelham, AL) - June 13  
4 = XTERRA East Championship (Richmond, VA) - June 20  
 
5 = XTERRA Mountain Championship (Beaver Creek, CO) - July 17  
6 = XTERRA USA Championship (Ogden/Snowbasin, UT) - Sept. 25  
Key: 1=100, 2=90, 3=82, 4=75, 5=69, 6=63, 7-58, 8=53, 9=49, 10=45, 11=41, 12=37, 13=34, 14=31, 15=28

AMATEUR RACE

Mark Woody (pictured), 40, from Chapin, South Carolina edged out local favorite Omar Fraser of Birmingham by just 21 seconds to win the amateur title, and Casey Fannin finished 3rd (his fourth year in a row in the top 3 at this race).  Suzie Snyder placed 7th overall among women and took the amateur title, her second this year (she also won the West Champs).  Also of note, Charlotte Mahan from Lenoir City, Tennessee won the 60+ division at this race for the fifth consecutive year.  Here's a look at all the age group winners:

XTERRA SOUTHEAST CHAMPIONS (WOMEN)

Division	Name	Time	Hometown
20 - 24	Jo Markham	3:26:27	Collierville, TN
25 - 29	Suzanne Snyder	2:55:08	Wallingford, CT
30 - 34	Julia Radmann	3:27:14	Smyrna, GA
35 - 39	Heather Coddington	3:35:51	Indianapolis, IN
40 - 44	Angie Childre	3:40:03	Milledgeville, GA
45 - 49	Lori Ann Goldweber	3:22:41	Birmingham, AL
50 - 54	Beverly Enslow	3:13:27	Metamora, IL
60+	Charlotte  Mahan	5:54:22	Lenoir City, TN

XTERRA SOUTHEAST CHAMPIONS (MEN)  

Division	Name	Time	Hometown
15 - 19	John Michael Gorum	3:27:03	Fortson, GA
20 - 24	Tomek Barc	4:4:20	Irmo, SC
25 - 29	Blake Voges	2:59:49	Santa Claus, IN
30 - 34	Omar Fraser	2:45:10	Birmingham, AL
35 - 39	Chris Scott	2:48:46	Morrison, IL
40 - 44	Mark Woody	2:44:49	Chapin, SC
45 - 49	Mark Rudder	2:52:32	Atlanta, GA
50 - 54	Casey Fannin	2:46:45	Birmingham, AL
55 - 59	Walt Rider	3:18:24	Memphis, TN
60 - 64	Al Marvin	3:48:35	Denver, CO
65 - 69	Peter Lilley	4:26:19	Charlotte, NC

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A special thanks to all the good people at Shelby County, Oak Mountain State Park, and BUMP, who embrace this race and make it a great experience for all of the participants.

The 2010 XTERRA Southeast Championship was presented by Paul Mitchell, Degree Men Adventure, and Shelby County. Sponsors included the Utah Sports Commission, XTERRA.TV, GU Energy Gel, Gatorade, Zorrel, the Shelby County Reporter, and the XTERRA Alliance - Wetsuits, Gear, Cycling, Fitness, and Footwear.

TEAM Unlimited, a Hawaii-based television events and marketing company, owns and produces XTERRA. In 2010 there are more than 100 XTERRA off-road triathlon and trail running events held in 15 countries worldwide.  It all started with 123 competitors one afternoon in Maui, and has since evolved into the most prestigious off-road multisport race in the world.