It is Allen’s fourth win in a row on the XTERRA World Tour, having recently taken out wins at XTERRA Championships in Guam, Philippines and Saipan last month. 

 

However, it was no easy win with New Zealand triathlon representative, Graham O’Grady (Kinloch), leading out of the 1km swim leg by 30 seconds with Allen, a former Australian Surf Life Saving Champion, hot on his heels. 

 

O’Grady, a road specialist, found the going tough early on the ride and the off-road experts hit the front with Scott Thorne (Hamilton) and Allen tussling for position on the technical trails through the very scenic Redwood Forest. 

 

Close behind them, the race to stay in medal contention was being played out between O’Grady, Mark Leishman (Rotorua) and Jan Francke (Czech Republic). Half way through the 26km ride it was Thorne who put the hammer down, opening up a gap over his trans-Tasman rival, and it paid off with Thorne leading heading onto the run by 1 minute. 

 

However, a calf injury that nearly ruled Thorne out of the race entirely, took its toll and before half way round the 11km course, Allan had the lead back and was putting time into all but one of his competitors. It was O’Grady, who, after a tough mountain bike ran himself from fourth to second place. Thorne held on for third. 

 

“I was running scared, I knew Graham was a great runner, I had to push it hard the entire race.” explained an elated Allen after the race. “This is a special race to win, I was here last year and got fourth but I loved it, it is one of the best races in the world. I had to come back with Jacqui and I’m so pleased I did, we couldn’t have asked for a better result today.”