XTERRA European Championship Sunday / Last Call For The Caveman
28.08.2015
Sunday's XTERRA European Championship is held in conjunction with XTERRA England and the XTERRA World Tour, a global series of off-road triathlons spanning more than 30 countries that qualifies athletes to race at the XTERRA World Championship.
It is the last of 12 championship events in the 2015 XTERRA European Tour, distributes $25,000 USD to the top 10 male and female professionals, crowns XTERRA European and European Tour Champions, plus awards an additional $20,000 to the best elite performers in the series.
For amateurs it’s their last chance to score points towards winning an XTERRA European Tour title in their age division, and also the last stop in Europe where they can secure one of 50 qualifying spots into the 20th edition of XTERRA Worlds in Maui on November 1.
The main event combines a 1.5-kilometer swim with a 30km mountain bike and 10km trail run. It starts with a swim in the strictly private and extraordinarily clean spring fed Vachery Pond. The bike course has riders twisting in-and-out and up-and-down the dense tree-lined forests. The run is just as fun, crossing over creeks, hopping over logs.
"The course is fantastic, I really enjoy it," explained Conrad Stoltz, who is adding a fair bit of drama to the day as its his proclaimed last XTERRA race. "It's all natural, freshly carved, lots of turns, twists, roots, whoops, humps, some fair pedaling sections which is nice too and the run course is really cool. There’s this big ditch you have to jump across, there’s a bog that you have to run through and not lose your shoes, you have to jump over a tree. It’s not just running, it’s cross country. What I think XTERRA really embodies. Fun all around. Good event. Fun people. Woodstock atmosphere. The British crowd really gets into it, and a lot of South African expats come out and yell all kinds of stuff in Afrikaans."
Reigning and three-time XTERRA World Champ Ruben Ruzafa is in the field, looking to win his 15th straight XTERRA. Aussie Ben Allen, who won the England title here two years ago, is hell-bent on stopping him.
“I came to Europe to target Ruben and I was hoping to race against him at XTERRA Czech and Germany,” said Allen, who won both those races earlier this month without Ruzafa in the line-up.
“Now I finally get the chance to race him this weekend. I don’t really care who wins the race as long as I beat Ruben, that’s my objective. He’s undefeated. This course probably plays to his strengths, and Conrad’s too, because it is so mountain biking focused and such a tight and twisty course. I think to beat Ruben you’ve got to be ruthless, get in his way, not let him get passed you and try different things. I’ll stick to a game plan, look to limit loss on the bike and hopefully it comes down to a running race at the end.”
The women's race has plenty of spice as well with two-time XTERRA World Champion Lesley Paterson taking on four-time XTERRA European Tour Champion Renata Bucher, who won the ETU Cross Tri European Championship in July and 2013 XTERRA England Champion Jacqui Slack who is excited to race on her home turf.
“Home country, super excited, and its fun for my family and friends to get to see so many great athletes from all over the world here,” said Slack. “It’s such a strong field. Of course, I think Lesley (Paterson) is the target. I’ll see if I can stick with her on the bike and take it from there. Although, I understand she’s been mountain bike focused so probably has this technical riding nailed by now.”
Spectators are in for quite a treat as well with both the bike and run courses filtering through the “arena” several times making it quite easy to track the action. Join the discussion by following along on Facebook/xterraplanet, Instagram/xterraoffroad, and Twitter @xterraoffroad using hashtag #xterraUK15. Race starts at 12 noon on Sunday.
Last Call For The Caveman
“I’m pretty sure this it,” explained the most iconic XTERRA athlete of all-time, Conrad Stoltz, about Sunday’s European Championship race in England being his last XTERRA.
“I don’t have regrets. I’m 41, I had a fantastic career, have lots of memories and have done a lot of neat stuff,” said Stoltz, adding that the best thing that ever happened was the birth of his baby girl Xena in the off-season. “She changed our lives in a huge way. Everything else pales in comparison now that we have this little bundle. My retirement means we can really spend a lot of time with her and we literally have her with us all the time. Being a Dad is indescribable. It’s awesome.”
Awesome could also describe Stoltz’ career and his impact on the sport. Well beyond his unprecedented 51 career championship wins (53 if you count Buffelspoort) and seven world titles is a gentle giant beloved worldwide for his warm smile and welcoming demeanor as much as his fearless downhill skills.
Stoltz is a rare gem of a person – genuine, caring, smart, and giving. There are so many great examples showcasing the strength of his character.
Flashback to Tokyo, Japan, 2011, at one of the busiest subway stations on earth. Stoltz noticed a woman struggling with her luggage at the top of a stairwell at the exit. While hundreds of commuters quickly navigated their way around the woman, the Caveman worked his way through the crowd – like a fish swimming upstream – to help her, grabbing the cumbersome luggage and carrying it down a massive flight of 100 stairs to the bottom.
Over the past 15 years XTERRA has had the pleasure of seeing him perform countless acts of kindness – from signing autographs and providing simple words of advice to full-blown mentoring gigs and visiting sick kids at Children’s Hospitals.
Perseverance. Conrad has that in truck loads. When in 2006 he broke his back pre-riding the course at Nationals, he didn’t give up. He actually showed up at the race two days later to support the rest of the XTERRA Tribe, arm in a sling, pain pursing through his body – but his character was holding strong. The next year he won everything, including his third world title. In 2009 after slicing his foot open before the start of the East Championship, while retrieving a buoy that had gotten unhooked, he didn’t give up. He won that race.
In 2010 when he wanted to go home and be with his Dad while he was in a fierce battle with cancer, his Dad told him no, to race and make him proud. He did just that by winning his unprecedented fourth XTERRA World Title in his honor. ESPN paid tribute to his effort by naming it a top 10 play. Conrad’s dad said, “I once showed him a dung beetle that was trying to roll his ball of dung up a very steep incline. The ball kept rolling back, but the beetle kept retrieving the ball and pressing forward. I said to Conrad, “That’s how one should live one’s life. One never gives up.”
Trust that his retirement has nothing to do with giving up, it’s more about moving on to start the next chapter of life with his lovely wife Liezel and baby Xena. It’s a move we can all admire.
