Josiah Middaugh and Melanie McQuaid won the men's and women's pro titles at XTERRA Canada
Janet Clark / 06.09.2010
XTERRA President Janet Clark was on-site to take in all the action and brings us this report:2010 marks 10 years since XTERRA Canada was last held in Whistler, and the race organizing team of Yoeri Geerits, Cal Zaryski, Rose Serpico, and Tony Smith have brought Canada back to the XTERRA World Tour with a spectacular Whistler experience that combines a picturesque lake swim, sweet singletrack and some of the gnarliest mountain biking on the XTERRA Planet.
There was a definite chill in the air this morning as the sun tried to come out from behind the clouds at Alta Lake for the 9am start of the XTERRA Canada Championship. The swim was two laps of 750-meters with a short sprint in between, and was led by young stud Jordan Bryden with Christine “Big Fish†Jeffrey only seconds behind. Hot on their heels was three-time world champ Conrad Stoltz and U.S pro Branden Rakita. Canada’s first XTERRA Champion, Mike Vine was a minute back with fellow Canadian Karsten Madsen, and another 30-seconds behind was Colorado’s Josiah Middaugh. Three-time world champ, Melanie McQuaid, exited the swim 3 minutes behind Jeffrey and new mom Danelle Kabush over 5 minutes back from the leader.
Then came what everyone had been waiting for - 19km over two laps of what may arguably be XTERRA’s toughest bike course followed by 11km of up and down trail running, with a little pavement providing welcome relief from the roots, rocks, slipping and sliding.
