Wealing, Corona win XTERRA Mexico
On a challenging off-road course made slippery and muddy thanks to pre-race rains, Seth Wealing of the U.S. won a back-and-forth battle with South Africa’s Dan Hugo and Mexico’s Fabiola Corona took a wire-to-wire win over the U.S.A.’s Shonny Vanlandingham at the Mexico stop on the XTERRA World Tour.
The men
Seth Wealing emerged from the swim third in 19:58, 34 seconds behind veteran Irvin Perez of Massachusetts and 5 seconds behind Francisco Serrano. After negotiating the steeply sloped, muddy and slippery T1, Wealing lost more time wrestling with his skinsuit and finally started the bike in 4th place behind Dan Hugo, whose swim was 31 seconds slower than Wealing’s.
Hugo, who was charging to make up time on Perez and Serrrano, who were 3 and 4 minutes ahead respectively, slid and banged his knee hard and fell back of Wealing
“My knee was just throbbing,” Hugo told XTERRA Kahuna Dave Nichols. “The altitude was hurting me as well – but I really wanted to win this race.”
Wealing charged hard past Perez and engaged in a long, back-and-forth battle with Serrano before edging away to 1st at T2.
Despite his pain, Hugo held on bravely and arrived in T2 just one minute back of Wealing.
“It was close, but once he got past me, there was no way I could get him and I kind of backed off a bit,” said Hugo.
Wealing took control of the race on the run, passing Hugo on his way to a race-best 39:50 split. He hit the line in 2:18:35, 46 seconds ahead of Hugo.
Serrano had a subpar bike (1:18:35 to Hugo’s 1:15:57 and Wealing’s 1:17:17) but charged to a second-fastest run (41:40 to Wealing’s 39:50, 21 seconds better than Hugo) to take third. “I have been doing so much ITU and road stuff for the federation,” said Serrano. “I have ridden my mountain bike maybe four times over the summer, he told XTERRA’s Nichols. “I am really happy with my race and getting my mountain bike legs, so I will race hard at Maui.”
The women
Corona finished the swim in 23:57, nearly 2 minutes ahead of defending champion Shonny Vanlandingham.
“I know how fast Shonny is so I try to put as much time as possible in the swim… then I say pedal hard Shonny is coming, pedal hard,” Corona told Nichols. Vanlandingham came back hard on the bike, but followed a pack of men riders who were lost. When she got back on course she was a hopeless 8 minutes down. “I should have known better because I made the same mistake on a pre-ride,” said Vanlandingham.
After the race was done, Corona had beaten Vanlandingham in every discipline. Corona’s 23:57 swim was 2:16 better, her 1:37:08 bike was 1:44 superior, and her 47:23 run was 1:06 faster. At the finish, Corona’s 2:49:28 time gave her a 6 minutes, 1 second margin of victory.
XTERRA Mexico Championship
Valle de Bravo, Toluca, Mexico
September 4, 2010
Pro Men
1. Seth Wealing (USA) 2:18:35
2. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:19:21
3. Francisco Serrano (MEX) 2:21:16
4. Octavio Chetto (MEX) 2:38:46
5. Irvin Perez (USA) 2:49:11
Pro Women
1. Fabiola Corona (MEX) 2:49:28
2. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 2:55:29
3. Daniela Campuzano (MEX) 3:05:40
4. Ana Paula Guerrero (MEX) 3:33:31
5. Veronica Pena (MEX) 3:58:44
