Hugo, Paterson top XTERRA East
Dan Hugo of South Africa dominated the men’s field and defending two-time XTERRA World Champion Lesley Paterson came from behind on the run to beat a revived Shonny Vanlandingham for the XTERRA East titles in Richmond, Virginia.
Thanks to tropical storm Andrea and another storm front that dumped two more inches of rain Saturday, the swim portion of the Xterra East Championship was cancelled due to high water levels in the James River. Safety concerns forced XTERRA organizers to replace the swim leg with a short run.
“It is simply too dangerous to swim under these conditions,” said XTERRA Race Director Dave Nicholas. “We were hoping that the water level in the James would dip below nine-feet, but Mother Nature did not cooperate.”
As XTERRA vice president Trey Garman pointed out, the dynamic of the race was changed considerably with the strong swimmers drawing the short end and strong runners inheriting the advantage.
Men
Hugo ran the first leg in 8:17 and came out third in a massive pack, just a second behind Ryan Ignatz and Nick Fisher and tied with South African Bradley Weiss and U.S. competitor Will Kelsay. Hugo then won it on the bike as his 1:26:00 split was more than 6 minutes faster than his three closest chasers – Ignatz (1:32:15), Weiss (1:32:22) and Nick Fisher (1:32:16).
Hugo’s 4th-fastest 38:30 trail run gave up 31 seconds to Ignatz, 2 seconds to fellow South African Weiss, and 14 seconds to Andy Lee. But given his huge lead after the bike, he was never in danger on his way to a 2:12:47 finish that gave him a 5:43 margin of victory over runner-up Ignatz, 6:20 over 3rd place Weiss and 9:07 over 4th place Nick Fisher.
The win was Hugo’s first XTERRA championship victory since his win at XTERRA South Africa in 2011. Hugo’s victory broke a string of 13 runner-up finishes in his previous 14 XTERRA races. Hugo admittedly benefited by the absence of two top competitors: “It’s much easier to win when the sports icon is commentating [four-time XTERRA World champion Conrad Stoltz], or staying home in Vail [Josiah Middaugh], so a big respect to Conrad and Josiah,” Hugo told the crowd after breaking the tape.
Hugo had a checkered history in previous races at Richmond. He posted three runner-ups in Richmond (twice to Stoltz, once to Middaugh) and last year at this time he was in a sling after crashing on the road earlier in the season.
Ignatz’s runner-up finish was his best result in an XTERRA championship series race. He rode much of the race in a three-man duel with Bradley Weiss and Nick Fisher and pulled away midway through the rugged run.
“I was getting blown-up on that ride, and was lucky to be able to hang with those guys,” Ignatz told XTERRA media. “Then on the run Brad pushed really hard in the beginning and it wasn’t until the stairs when I starting pulling away. It’s pretty exciting, best result in a national series race and to be able to work all week and show up for the weekend like this…it feels great.”
Women
Lesley Paterson emerged from the first short run leg in 8:28 with a 29 seconds lead on Canadian Danelle Kabush, 42 seconds on multiple XTERRA World Champion Melanie McQuaid, and 1:04 on Brandi Heisterman and former XTERRA World Champion Shonny Vanlandingham.
Paterson used to be known as a weak mountain biker who had to make up lots of time with her run. But at Richmond, Paterson hung tough through a highly technical course made treacherous by slippery mud and wet roots.
Showing a much revived game after a long recovery from a 2011 knee operation, Vanlandingham charged the mountain bike leg with a race-fastest 1:40:34 split that was 1:36 better than Paterson and gave the American a short lead starting the run.
Paterson, who has now won six straight XTERRA championships, was happy with her improved two wheel prowess. “Shonny passed me going into the second lap so I was really pleased to have fended off the other people,” Paterson told XTERRA media. “I rode with her for most of the lap and to be honest it was really fun.” Paterson said she learned some lines from Vanlandingham. “It was a tough course, really gnarly, and I only came off once,” said Paterson.
Once Paterson reached the twisting running trails through Richmond’s parkland, order was restored. Paterson passed Vanlandingham at the Mile 1 mark and carried on to a race-best 40:02 run that was 3:15 faster than Vanlandingham’s split.
“I was trying to emulate her form as she passed,” smiled Vanlandingham, who said she is finally getting back to top form from her 2011 knee surgeries.
Paterson finished in 2:30:40 with a 2:43 margin of victory over runner-up Vanlandingham and 5:26 over Brandi Heisterman, who scored her second straight XTERRA championship series 3rd-place finish.
Danelle Kabush of Canada used the 2nd-fastest 41:59 run to finish 5th overall, 20 seconds back of 4th place Melanie McQuaid – her 13th straight year in the top 4 at Richmond.
XTERRA East Championship
Richmond, Virginia
June 9, 2013
R 2k / B 32k / R 9.8k
Results
Men
1. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:12:47
2. Ryan Ignatz (USA) 2:18:30
3. Bradley Weiss (RSA ) 2:19:07
4. Nick Fisher (USA) 2:21:54
5. Will Kelsay (USA) 2:24:15
6. Andy Lee (USA) 2:25:09
7. Craig Evans (USA) 2:25:25
8. Karsten Marsden (CAN) 2:25:53
9. Branden Rakita (USA) 2:26:42
10. Ryan Decook (USA) 2:27:31
Women
1. Lesley Paterson (GBR) 2:30:40
2. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 2:33:23
3. Brandi Heisterman (CAN) 2:36:06
4. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 2:38:33
5. Danelle Kabush (CAN) 2:38:53
6. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:41:41
7. Christine Jeffrey (CAN) 2:56:21
8. Katie Button (CAN) 2:56:55
9. Caroline Colonna (USA) 2:59:52
10. Catherine Sterling (USA) 3:00:54
