Stoltz edges Kelsay at XTERRA Japan
If not for three painful crashes on the rugged bike course, American Will Kelsay might have pulled off one of the biggest upsets in XTERRA history Sunday at the XTERRA Japan Championship on the ultra-challenging course in the Nikko National Forest.
As things turned out, heavy favorite four-time XTERRA World Champion Conrad Stoltz of South Africa held off the furious charge of longshot racer Will Kelsay by 1 minutes and 16 seconds and Japan’s Mieko Carey won her third straight XTERRA Japan Championship on a course that Stoltz described to XTERRA media as “for sure the hardest [XTERRA] race, even harder than Whistler.”
Stoltz admitted that the muddy, rocky, steep and slippery bike course included “a lot of stuff I couldn’t ride.”
Stoltz said that kelsay pushed him to the limit.
“Will was chasing hard, and was close behind me and if he didn’t crash so many times it would’ve been a lot closer,” Stoltz told XTERRA media.
Stoltz's winning time was 2:18:25, a little more than a minute ahead of Kelsay.
“This is Will’s course for sure. He is a really skilled rider, completely fearless, and he raced really well. He was just 30 or 40-seconds behind me off the bike and I thought he was going to catch me today because this run course is like a jungle gym and we all know Will is like a monkey.”
“I felt like a kid playing in the woods, jumping over stuff, ducking under logs, swinging over things, hoping off rocks,” Kelsay told XTERRA media after his kamikaze race in which he used his hands to grab branches and rocks to navigate though sections nearly impenetrable sections on the run. "It was super challenging and hard. Even when I was climbing up the ropes on the run it was painful, but still fun.”
Japanese mountain bike champion Takahiro Ogasawara of Japan finished 3rd in 2:27:43, with Michael Hiscott of Great Britain 2 minutes 8 seconds back in 4th.
Mieko Carey of Japan dominated the women’s race in a time of 3:00:25 for her third straight victory in this most difficult race on the XTERRA World Tour.
XTERRA Japan Championship
Maranuma, Japan
August 27, 2011
S 1.5k / MTB 30k / Trail R 10k
Results
Elite men
1. Conrad Stoltz (RSA) 2:18:25
2. Will Kelsay (USA) 2:19:41
3. Takahiro Ogasawara (JPN) 2:27:43
4. Michael Hiscott (GBR) 2:29:51
5. Paul Davies (GBR) 2:49:47
1. Mieko Carey (JPN) 3:00:25
