Atkinson, Bucher win Oz XTERRA
Courtney Atkinson of Australia and Renata Bucher of Switzerland won the men’s and women’s elite titles at the inaugural XTERRA Great Ocean Road off-road triathlon at in Anglesea, Victoria, Australia.
Men
The win was two-time Australian Olympic Atkinson’s first in XTERRA competition and comes less than one year after he first rode a mountain bike in the aftermath of the 2012 London Olympics. Unfortunately, Atkinson broke his wrist shortly thereafter while preparing for the Mark Webber charity adventure race in Tasmania.
“I got through it without breaking anything, so I’m happy,” Atkinson told XTERRA President Janet Clark, who was doing media duties in her home country. Atkinson added that he got a real taste of the typical adventure XTERRA offers. “I ran over a massive brown snake on the bike but it didn’t get me. It all worked out. I knew my strengths and weaknesses and I worked to them.”
Atkinson came out of the water in 15:18, just one second in front of fellow Australian Ben Allen, who just won his second straight XTERRA Triple Crown, which includes XTERRA Philippines, XTERRA Saipan and XTERRA Guam. Trailing the leaders were Great Britain’s Rory Downie (16:43), (South African Stuart Marais (17:05), and New Zealand’s Olly Shaw (18:15).
Atkinson pushed hard to stay with XTERRA veteran Allen on the narrow, twisting, single track trail that took the competitors halfway through the bike leg. “I thought if I could get to the single track and get in front, that once I got out of it, my strength would be on the open fire roads,” Atkinson told XTERRA media. “I had to work really hard to stay with Ben to that point, and get in front, and from there it was limiting my losses.” Allen broke to a lead on the single track and held on for dear life on the open fire roads that more resemble pavement racing. Allen ultimately posted a 1:00:18 bike split and came into T2 with a 1:28 lead on the ITU star, with Marais (1:01:25), Downie (1:04:07) and Shaw (1:05:59 trailing.
Just 4 kilometers into the run, Atkinson passed Allen and showed his elite Olympic-style strength as he posted a race-best 35:50 split that was 5:21 faster than Allen could muster and brought him to the finish in 1:53:26 with a 3 minutes 53 seconds margin of victory over Allen.
“On the bike, Courtney was right on my tail, and I wasn’t able to drop him on the fire trails,” Allen told XTERRA media. “My mountain bike skills were a little bit better and I was able to gain a 30-45 second advantage on the single track, but there wasn’t enough of it for me to really capitalize. Courtney caught me at the turnaround on the run and just put the hammer down. I tried to stick with him, but he’s a world-class athlete.”
Marais finished 3rd, 2:45 behind Allen. First year XTERRA pros Rory Downie and Olly Shaw were 4th and 5th.
Women
In contrast to Atkinson, who won his very first XTERRA race, Swiss star Renata Bucher won her 30th XTERRA Championship event in a pro career that began in 2004. “I really wanted to win here,” Bucher told XTERRA’s Clark. Bucher spent several weeks in the area after the XTERRA Triple Crown series in March, where she was runner-up at all three races.
Bucher was 5th out of the water in 20:21, 3:22 behind swim leader Jacqui Slack and just over a minute behind Australian Peri Gray (19:05), Austrian Carina Wasle and Australian Deanna Blegg (both 19:07). Bucher stormed out on the mountain bike leg, roaring past all four just before entering the single track section. Bucher then posted a dominant, race-fastest 1:03:31 mountain bike split that was 6 minutes faster than Slack, 6:23 better than Wasle, 11:27 better than Gray and 13:11 faster than Blegg.
“I love the bike course here,” Bucher told XTERRA media. “I trained hard and have spent hours on the trails. I left everything on the course and I’m super happy about that.”
Bucher topped off her dominant performance with a race-best 43:58 run, which was 2:04 better than Slack. Bucher finished in 2:08:18 with a 5:38 margin of victory over Slack, who came into this race with victories at XTERRA Saipan and XTERRA Guam. “There was no leeway in this race,” Slack told XTERRA media. “I was pushing as hard as I could, but Renata was a different athlete.”
Wasle, coming off a 2nd at Saipan and 3rd at Guam, took 3rd. Gray, a local area resident, was 4th and Blegg 5th.
XTERRA Great Ocean Road
Anglesea, Victoria, Australia
April 7, 2013
S 1k / MTB 30k / TR 10k
Results
Pro Men
1. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:53:26
2. Ben Allen (AUS) 1:57:19
3. Stuart Marais (RSA) 2:00:04
4. Rory Downie (GBR) 2:04:42
5. Olly Shaw (NZL) 2:08:13
Pro Women
1. Renata Bucher (SUI) 2:08:18
2. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 2:13:56
3. Carina Wasle (AUT) 2:19:55
4. Peri Gray (AUS) 2:22:42
5. Deanna Blegg (AUS) 2:28:18
