Gomez Noya and Paterson storm the XTERRA field in Maui
Press Release / 06.11.2012
Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua (October 28, 2012) - A tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands was canceled early on Sunday morning, and then Javier Gomez Noya and Lesley Paterson went out and stormed the competition at the 2012 XTERRA World Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua on the island of Maui.
Gomez Noya was the overall winner, completing the course (1.5-kilometer swim, 30K mountain bike, 10K trail run) in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 50 seconds. The 29-year-old from Spain followed up his silver medal performance at the 2012 Olympics with an impressive victory in his inaugural XTERRA appearance.
Paterson was the top female, not only repeating her accomplishment of a year ago, but bettering it. She finished with a time of 2:44:11, which was nearly two minutes faster than her winning time of a year ago.
A capacity – and XTERRA World Championship record – field of 750 athletes from around the world participated in the event, which was held on Maui for the 17th consecutive year.
As if the lead-in drama to the event were not enough, a tsunami warning was issued for all of the Hawaiian Island late Saturday night. Many of the athletes stayed up late trying to get updates on the tsunami, and some were even evacuated from their hotels or homes.
“I think maybe some of the athletes had to evacuate or had to stay up a little bit later, but I don’t think it had a big influence on the race,” said Conrad Stoltz, who placed third overall. “I think we were lucky to have a fair world championship.”
Indeed, the conditions did not adversely affect the race, although an expected swell did create a rougher-than-normal ocean swim.
