Osborne, Allen win XTERRA Tahiti

Press Release / 08.05.2017

Sam Osborne and Jacqui Allen captured the third-annual XTERRA Tahiti Championship elite titles on a gorgeous afternoon in Moorea on Saturday.

It's the third win of the season for Osborne and the second for Allen.  They both won at XTERRA New Zealand one-month ago and Osborne captured the season opener in Saipan back in March.

In the men's race Osborne, Ben Allen, and reigning World Champ Mauricio Mendez were all together out of the swim, however, "Ben and I absolutely laid it down through transition and onto the bike and managed to force a gap on Mauricio," said Osborne.

Mendez charged back and got in front, but one small slip and he was off his bike and pushing it up a hill when Osborne and Allen attacked again. "It was just the perfect pedal on an uphill to take the lead and Ben stayed on my wheel and we rode really hard for the next 10-minutes or so and nailed the gap," said Osborne.

Turned out Mendez, just five miles into the bike, broke his derailleur and was done for the day. "I'm not sure if it was a tree root or a rock that I hit, but it was an unfixable mechanical," said Mendez. Neither Osborne nor Allen knew Mendez was done, however, so they kept pouring on the steam. "It was like a time trial the whole bike," said Osborne.  "Ben was descending really well today and I wasn't able to gap him on the bike at all."

The two rode into transition together but Osborne made a quicker go of it, was first out on to the run, built a 20-second gap by the top of the climb "it was 5K up, and 5K down," and held on for the win. "Onto the run, I got a bit of a gap out of transition and got into a good rhythm but on the uphill I started to cramp quite bad and was in damage control to the top," said Osborne.  "Was a godsend to get to the downhill and let my legs just roll it out."

Osborne's winning time was 3:33:49, about one-minute ahead of Allen.

"What an incredible day," exclaimed Allen.  "I lead out of the water and nailed the first 5km on the bike with Sammy hot on my heels! We had a gap on Mau, and he made a super human effort to close it, but Sam attacked and I managed to follow and the elastic band broke for Mau and Sam and I drilled the bike knowing Mau would be hot on our heels come the run. We exited the bike together and it took me a few kilometers before my legs came good but Sam took off from the start. The gap was closing as Sam was hurting from his effort and I could sense I may have a chance, but with little course left to run, Sam took the win and I finished 2nd. The course, people and atmosphere was outstanding! I have loved every minute here and Jacqui and I will definitely be back again next year!"

Christophe Betard from France, who was second here behind Josiah Middaugh last year, took third on the day followed by Tahiti's own Cedric Wane.
    
In the women's race, it was all Jacqui Allen, who was the only elite female in the event.

"What a super location for an XTERRA," she said.  "It has everything.  Crystal clear waters, mountain bike terrain with short steep climbs, rooty technical sections, fast rocky downhills and tricky creek crossings. The run is much the same and probably one of my favorite run courses on the circuit. I was most impressed with the whole organization of the event from start to finish. The passion shone through all weekend with the event being a massive success, I would highly recommend this as a bucket list race for anyone interested in the Tahitian culture. thanks to Jean-Michel and the crew for making this happen."

Cedric Tourneur from Tahiti and Mimi Stockton from Michigan won the amateur titles, and 26 amateurs punched qualified to race at the XTERRA World Championship in Maui this October.