Docherty, King take XTERRA Trail Worlds
Former multisport world champions Fiona Docherty and Heather Fuhr finished 1-3 in the women’s elite category at the 2009 Xterra Trail Running World Championship held at the Kualoa Ranch on Oahu this weekend. Max King took the men's title with a dominating performance.
Docherty, the 2003 Powerman Zofingen Duathlon world champion, led virtually wire to wire on the undulating, 12-mile course that wound through 3,000 feet of climbing from the green cliff faces of the Ka’a’awa Valley to the dense rain forest of Hakipu’u Valley. Docherty, who is taking a hiatus from triathlon to focus on marathon, crossed the line in 1:30:05 and outran last year’s winner Cindy Anderson from Kailua-Kona by 2 minutes 56 seconds and 7:56 ahead of third-place finisher Heather Fuhr, the 1997 Ironman World Champion and 15-time Ironman winner.
"This was an amazing, tough and awesome course," Docherty told XTERRA media. "This was my first XTERRA but I’ve always loved trail running."
Docherty started fast, followed by Fuhr and not until Mile 6 did Anderson hit her stride and moved past Fuhr into second place. "I started hard, but Fiona passed within a mile, and I wasn't able to catch Heather until mile 6," Anderson told XTERRA media.
Max King of Bend, Oregon won his second straight men’s 12-mile championship race in a time of 1:14:26, almost three minutes ahead of Joe Gray, the USA Track and Field Mountain Runner of the Year. Ben Bruce rounded out the podium. King is on a hot streak – he won the USA Track and Field Trail Marathon just six days after finishing 18th at the New York City Marathon last month.
2009 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship
Kualoa Ranch, Hawaii
December 6, 2009
Elite 12-mile course
Men
1. Max King, Bend, OR — 1:14:26 – $2,000
2. Joseph Gray, Lakewood, WA – 1:17:21 – $1,000
3. Ben Bruce, Eugene, OR – 1:20:43 – $750
4. John Tribbia, Boulder, CO – 1:25:47 – $500
5. Fujio Miyachi, Tokyo, JPN – 1:26:12 – $300
Women
1. Fiona Docherty, Boulder, CO / New Zealand – 1:30:05 – $2,000
2. Cynthia Anderson, Kailua-Kona, HI – 1:33:01 – $1,000
3. Heather Fuhr, Encinitas, CA / CAN – 1:38:01 – $750
4. Ady Ngawati, Whangerei, NZL – 1:38:53 – $500
5. Jenny Tobin, Boise, ID – 1:40:29 – $300.
