July 18, 2021
Robert Corey from Birmingham, Alabama and Lesley Paterson from Stirling, Scotland captured the XTERRA Oak Mountain 21K titles on a beautiful morning at Oak Mountain State Park in Shelby County, Alabama on Sunday, May 19, 2019.
Robert Corey from Birmingham, Alabama and Lesley Paterson from Stirling, Scotland captured the XTERRA Oak Mountain 21K titles on a beautiful morning at Oak Mountain State Park in Shelby County, Alabama on Sunday, May 19, 2019.
It’s the first big XTERRA win for Corey and the third time Paterson, who finished second in the grueling XTERRA Oak Mountain off-road triathlon elite title on Saturday, has won the half-marathon a day later.
In the men’s race Jason Adams from Auburn, AL started strong and held the lead for the first lap, and it wasn’t until about mile seven, just after the Double Oak Lake Dam crossing, that Corey moved into the lead.
“It was a good race. I had Jason in sight for the first lap, but he was running strong. I think he had trouble with some cramps about half-mile past the dam on the second lap and I took a chance to go in front,” said Carey, who is dental school at UAB.
His winning time was 1:49:08, nearly a minute in front of Mark Robison Jr. of Columbiana, AL. Adams held on for third.
In the women’s race Paterson, the reigning XTERRA World Champion triathlete, led from start to finish but Mary Michaels from Moody, AL came on strong at the end to make it a close race.
“My feet were in taters, and I was walking at the end, and then I saw Mary was catching up and that pushed me to the finish,” said Paterson, who took the win in 1:54:10, less than one-minute ahead of Michaels. Dana Campbell from Birmingham finished third.
In the XTERRA Oak Mountain 10K trail run, elite triathlete Zach Winter won for the men in 47:40. Daniel Darwin was second in 49:21 and Daniel Peco was third for the second straight year in 50:04. In the women’s race, Jen Razee from Edwards, Colorado (who won the 45-49 division at the XTERRA Oak Mountain triathlon yesterday) won the overall women’s 10K title in 55:08, six-seconds ahead of Aubrey Peco from Birmingham. Laura Sanz Perdiguero from Gainesville, Florida was third in 58:51.
The day also featured a 5K on the trails, which was won by Tim Spradlin in 19:53. Chase Joseph was second and Don Moote third.
For the women, Laura Kemper was first (and third overall) in 23:26 while Ashley Dawson was second and Meredith Hittie was third.
