Middaugh, Paterson take XTERRA
Josiah Middaugh and Lesley Paterson won the 8th annual XTERRA Southeast Championship in Oak Mountain State Park in Shelby County, Alabama.
Men
Middaugh, a 8-time XTERRA USA National Champion, won this event for the first time and broke 4-time XTERRA World Champion Conrad Stoltz’s six-race win streak in Shelby County, Alabama.
Stoltz led the swim, the mountain bike leg and the first half of the 6 mile run before pulling out with a torn calf muscle.
Stoltz told XTERRA media that he had a crash at the XTERRA West Championships a month ago and cut his hand quite badly.
“One week after that I was doing mountain bike racing, and because I couldn’t put weight on the handlebar, it made me compensate so my left hip started cramping up and caused the hip to get injured and that transferred to my calf muscle. I felt good on the run but the injury got worse and worse and I had to stop.”
Middaugh came out of the water about a 90 seconds behind the leaders, then posted the fastest bike split of the day and took over on the run to capture his second straight win in the 2013 XTERRA U.S. Pro Series.
Middaugh was 1:15 behind Stoltz and a minute behind Hugo at T2, then caught Hugo halfway through the run and passed Stoltz at the end of the first lap of the run.
“I asked Conrad if he was OK and he said his leg was hurting,” Middaugh told XTERRA media. “When I came around the second lap to the finish he was there cheering me in.”
Middaugh said the key to his win was playing it conservatively when on the rain-slick course. “The roots and bridges were really slick,” Middaugh told XTERRA media. “My front wheel slide out on the roots a lot but luckily hooked back up on the dirt. Anything root or rock was slick and the bridges were bad so I really made a point out of lining those up straight.”
Stoltz’s South Africa countryman Dan Hugo survived a painful crash at T2 as he slipped on wet concrete to finish 2nd – the 13th time in his last 14 XTERRA races since he won XTERRA South Africa in 2011.
Craig Evans of Tennessee finished 3rd, his second straight finish on the podium at the XTERRA Southeast Championship.
Women
Two-time defending XTERRA World Champion Lesley Paterson survived four crashes on the bike to win her 5th straight XTERRA World Tour win.
“I was really nervous coming in because I’ve never ridden in slippery conditions like this in Southern California,” she told XTERRA media. “Although I grew up in this kind of weather in Scotland I wasn’t a mountain biker back then. The roots are buggers, you hit them at the wrong angle and you’re off.”
Paterson was pressured hard by 3-time XTERRA World Champion Melanie McQuaid who set the fastest bike split of the day and was first into T2 before surrendering to Paterson’s fearsome run. McQuaid said she was still not fully recovered from a lingering injury but was satisfied with her 2nd place effort. “I was injured for a long time and it takes a long time to get your body back,” she told XTERRA media. “Happy I made the choice to skip some racing and go home for four weeks and try to right the ship.”
Brandi Heisterman of British Columbia, Canada said she felt at home with the slippery roots on the Oak Mountain course and was proud of her 3rd place finish – her best-ever in a U.S. Pro Tour. “I took some chances on the bike to get into the race and ripped down Blood Rock,” Heisterman told XTERRA media. “It was so fun.”
XTERRA Southeast Championship
Oak Mountain State Park
Pelham, Alabama
May 18, 2013
Results
Elite men
1. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2L17:00
2. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:18:44
3. Craig Evans (USA) 2:22:49
4. Bradley Weiss (RSA) 2:25:32
5. Nick Fisher (USA) 2:27:23
6. Branden Rakita (USA) 2:27:48
7. Will Kelsay (USA) 2:29:33
8. Matt Mangen (USA) 2:32:04
9. Chris Ganter (USA) 2:34:18.03
10. Cody Waite (USA) 2:34:19.08
Elite Women
1. Lesley Paterson (GBR) 2:32:40
2. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 2:36:25
3. Brandi Heisterman (CAN) 2:41:32
4. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 2:42:42
5. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:42:51
6. Emma Garrard (USA) 2:46:03
7. Danelle Kabush (CAN) 2:46:19
8. Christine Jeffrey (USA) 2:48:50
9. Katie Button (CAN) 2:56:55
10. Caroline Colonna (USA) 2:59:09
