Coddens, Wasle Win XTERRA Denmark & Atkinson, Carey Win XTERRA Japan

31.08.2015

­Kris Coddens from Belgium and Carina Wasle of Austria captured the second-annual XTERRA Denmark Championship titles. It’s the second major of the year for Coddens, who also won at XTERRA Greece, and the third of the year for Wasle who also won at XTERRA Guam and Switzerland. XTERRA European Tour technical director and former XTERRA World Champion Nicolas Lebrun was on-site to take in all the action and brings us this report…

We had very good weather this year for XTERRA Denmark, especially for those who remember last year’s chilly and muddy race.  The race sold-out at 500 athletes, a great sign for the triathlon and XTERRA community in Denmark.  They made a big reality TV show from a bunch of guys racing last year and the exposure has been great for the sport here, and the organizers from running26 are doing an amazing job promoting XTERRA Nordic.

For the race : The start was at 10:00am and sunny, with some clouds and about 20°C. Jens Roth (Ger) had a good lead out of the water.  I just saw him and left for a point half way on the bike where I found him still in the lead with Sam Osborne in second and Kris Coddens in third, Yeray Luxem 4th and Jan Kubicek 5th (the place will never change for those two!)

At the 20km mark Coddens was in the lead with Roth 2nd and Osborne 3rd and that is the same position they entered transition.  “It was the first time for me to start the run first, quite strange,” said Coddens.  “Normally I have to run down others for a place! So I did a strong first loop, to make sure." When I saw Roth then Osborne finishing the first running loop I was sure Osborne was on his way to second.  He was flying, and I thought he will get the best run split. Coddens stayed a solid leader, running smooth and relaxed on the second loop knowing nobody was close behind he had also the fastest run split (like in the Bike). Osborne was not joking and came back second, and Roth, a new serious XTERRA competitor this year, took 3rd.  Luxem stayed 4th telling me he will start now the training for Maui, and so, he is happy with his place today. Kubicek completed the top 5 with a solid race.

After his win, Coddens said "I was confident in the swim, it was choppy and I like that because I use to windsurf.  I start the bike fast to get very quick in third, then it took me longer to overtake Sam and Jens. It was a beautiful bike course all in the woods, not 1% asphalt! The run had steep climbs and steep descents, flat and fast parts, dunes, ocean...a perfect loop.  It was a dream to win an XTERRA this year, and today this is my second, so I'm very happy. It's also a good sign because I was not in good shape mid-July for ETU Champs in Germany, so I had to cancel XTERRA Italy to go back in big training.  As a teacher I had more time this summer to train, and today I know I did the good choice. It's also a good timing, 4 weeks before ITU Cross Tri Worlds in Orosei, I won that race last year, and although the level will be not the same, I know I will be competitive."

In the women’s race I had the first split at km 7 or 8 on the bike, and Carina Wasle was already far ahead. About 1'30" behind she had two girls riding together, an amateur named Diane Lee (UK) and Tanja Hultengren Larsson (DK), then in 4th but far back more than 4'30" Sandra Koblemuller. At the 20km mark Wasle was still leading and she told me after, "I was really confident and felt really good today. I never had to push 100% on the bike, I know now, after my victory in Switzerland that I can be fast on flat race, so even a girl was able to catch me, I had energy to go faster."  At this point Diane was 2nd still at 1'30" but she dropped Tanja, who was fighting to stay on her tail only 15" back, Sandra was still 4th but now seven minutes back. She told me after that she had to stop to put air in her tire.

Halfway through the run Carina was still focused, but relaxed at the same time.  She knows she can run, she don't slow down and look strong, she have now a big gap 5' on Diane and more than 6 on Tanja. Sandra who is flying, angry about her bike mechanics at 8'30" but the two girls in front are not that far if we compare the speed.

Finally Wasle capturde her 3rd XTERRA victory of the year, really happy, especially after a long period injured. She is part of XTERRA history. I remember running with her in Austria maybe in 2003 and was just behind on the run, one loop ahead, and was struggling to catch her in a very technical run, and was thinking who is this girl! Now, more than 10 years after she is still here and winning, XTERRA Family Power! “I had a perfect race today,” she said.  “I already felt strong in the swim and enjoyed the little surf. 1 km into the bike I was leading and never looked back. I didn't need to push 100% and my lead got bigger and bigger. With the nice weather the trails were just perfect. Once on the run I had no pressure anymore and just ran it easy to the finish with a bigl ead. Once again a great feeling to finish 1st at an XTERRA race.”

Diane Lee saved her second place finish, first amateur,  not by little more then a minute and our XTERRA Austria Deer Sandra Koblmueller ran down Tanja Hultengren Larsson to finish third and Larson, a local girl From Copenhagen, came 4th and really happy for her first XTERRA race.  Genziana Cenni from Italy completed the top 5.

Atkinson, Carey Win XTERRA Japan

Courtney Atkinson and Mieko Carey captured the XTERRA Japan Championship at Lake Kanayama in Hokkaido. In the men’s race Atkinson, the reigning and three-time XTERRA Australia Champion and two-time Olympian, took a big lead out of the water, hung on during the bike, and used a blistering fast run to take the tape in 2:18:55, more than two-minutes ahead of Cedric Lassonde. For Carey, who has now won the XTERRA Japan Championship five times, a fantastic bike leg gave her a big cushion to hold-off the speedy Kiwi Lizzie Orchard by nearly three minutes at the finish. XTERRA Pro Charlie Epperson, who finished fourth overall on the day, took some time after the race to tell us about the day in this report…

Turned out to be a beautiful day on Lake Kanayama.  The morning started cool and clear and once race officials determined the water temperature was 15 degrees celsius (just above the cut off to cancel the swim) participants began the daunting task of sliding into wetsuits. With a 9am race start it was almost perfect for racers to enjoy a nice breakfast and take the short drive to the picturesque venue.  As racers entered the water, it was evident the cold water temperature impacted a number of competitors.  It's no so common in the XTERRA Asia Pacific Tour series to encounter cool water that requires a wetsuit.  As a result, a number of racers abandoned the shorter than normal 1200-meter swim due to the conditions today.

One athlete that made little work of the swim course was none other than Courtney Atkinson.  Atkinson has probably swam in every water condition imaginable so it was just another day at the office.  Exiting the water with a 2-3 minute lead over a chase group that included Cedric Lassonde of France and Takahiro Ogasawara (Oga) of Japan, it was evident Lassonde didn't intend to let Atkinson have too easy of day in Hokkaido.  

The bike course was in pristine conditions as a few days of rain didn't seem to slow it down.  Lassonde bridged the difference from the swim by T2, with Oga another minute back to ensure the podium would be decided by the run segment today. As I heard from spectators, Atkinson set a blistering pace out of T2 across the sand that let Lassonde know real quickly that his ITU background means, if anything, he can run!  Atkinson broke the tape in 2:18:55 and Lassonde was not too far off at 2:21:13.  Oga held on for third place in 2:26:11.

I asked Atkinson on what the future may hold for him racing after 2016 and if he moves away from ITU racing.  Atkinson responded, "Yeah, I only got into mountain biking after the 2012 Olympics and broke my wrist during the first couple of weeks of riding, but I stuck with it.  My future (racing) may involve more adventuring races and off-road triathlons." (paraphrased).  If you haven't met Courtney he's certainly the type of athlete we want to see in the XTERRA community- a genuinely nice guy that can race with the best of them.  

In the women's race Mieko Carey of Japan (Guam based) and Lizzy Orchard of Auckland, New Zealand were separated by only a few seconds exiting T1.  Carey laid a blistering bike split down that was mostly set by crushing each climb. I know this because she passed me on each and every one of them.  Her coach, Josiah Middaugh, has made her a formable opponent on the bike.  I came into T2 alongside Carey who didn't believe her lead was great enough to hold off the gazelle-like speed that Orchard possesses.  She was almost correct as Orchard closed the 6-7 minute gap from T2 to under 3 minutes by the end of the race. Carey claimed her 5th XTERRA Japan title with a 2:41:33 compared to Orchard's 2:44:24.

Carey, who I train with on Guam, is equally impressive in her dominance at XTERRA Japan. I asked her post race if her plan was to race the bike course lights out.  Carey smiled and offered "yeah, I was afraid of how fast Lizzy can run and I just wanted to push myself on the bike.  My training has been focused on the mountain bike the last few months and I knew if was going to have a chance to win it would be with pushing the bike to my limit."  Carey got a moment to reflect on how important it is to come back home to race here, "I've raced this race for years, I know Taro and many others for over 10 years, and it's special to come back and see them and be a part of this event."