Stoltz, Bucher win XTERRA East Championship

Trey Garman / 22.06.2010

June 20, 2010 (Richmond, VA) - Conrad Stoltz, 36, from South Africa and Renata Bucher, 33, of Switzerland captured the XTERRA East Championship off-road triathlon pro titles in Richmond, Virginia this afternoon.

It was a characteristically hot mid 90’s summer day in the River City, and that didn’t seem to bother Stoltz one bit. The “Caveman” had the second-best swim time with a 12:42 (just 20 seconds off Seth Wealing), the fastest 24km bike split by far (a blazing 52:11), and even turned in the quickest 10km run of the day in 40:24. It all added up to yet another win for the tall South African – his fourth straight on the XTERRA America Tour this year, and fifth win in six years here in Richmond.

“Since I finished high school in 1991 I’ve been racing professionally so I’ve had basically 18 summers back-to-back, so I’m familiar with the heat,” said Stoltz. “I’m not great in the heat, though, so I have to prepare for it, which mean’s pacing and never going too hard in the swim, bike or run. The whole race I had to pull back a little bit, pull back a little, and make sure I had some energy left for the run.”

By midway through the bike Stoltz’ biggest threat was coming from his hometown of Stellenbosch in the form of 25-year-old Dan Hugo. Hugo, making his 2010 U.S. debut (he won XTERRA South Africa back in February), was riding and running strong and all by himself in second place for most of the day.

“I didn’t get splits until the very end so I had no idea what was going on behind me so I was racing more against the heat and myself, but it’s really good to see Dan back,” said Stoltz about Hugo, who was just 15-years-old when the Caveman did his first-ever XTERRA here in Richmond back in 2001. “Obviously he had a good race, and I’m excited to see him healthy and back, and racing. That should be good for XTERRA.”

Indeed it is good to have Hugo, who graced the cover of the July issue of Triathlete Magazine, back in the mix.

Of course, always in the mix is Josiah Middaugh, who worked his way into third when he passed Craig Evans at the gnarly 80-foot vertical climb up the “Mayan Ruins” during the early part of the run. That is where Middaugh is at his best, on long brutal climbs, and through the first four races of this season those have been few and far between.

Seth Wealing was solid all around and ran past Craig Evans by the finish line to take fourth, with Evans in 5th (his third straight top 5).