XTERRA West Championships
Stoltz, Vanlandingham win XTERRA West Champs
Trey Garman / 27.04.2010
It’s the fourth year in a row Stoltz (pictured) has won the West Championship to start the XTERRA U.S. Pro Series. “The Caveman� edged American star Josiah Middaugh by just 39 seconds with a winning time of 2:06:47. Those two also finished 1-2 at this race last year.
“I rode as hard as I could today on this very rough and rocky and slippery desert surface,� said Stoltz. “This Vegas course is pretty tough with steep uphills and steep downhills and it was really hot towards the end of the race.�
Middaugh seems fully recovered from surgery he had to fix his IT band back in November. Despite having to stop and fix a flat on the bike he was second into the bike-to-run transition about 2:15 behind Stoltz and made up all but 40 seconds of that by the finish line.
“It felt really good out there and I think it’s safe to say that I’m back,� said Middaugh, who hadn’t done any run training for nearly two years while dealing with the injury.
Behind Stoltz was a trio of Coloradoans (Middaugh, Brian Smith and Seth Wealing) who did remarkably well considering they came from the cold of winter to the unforgiving heat of the wide-open desert. Smith’s third-place finish marked his best showing since posting the same result in the 2008 West Championship. Seth Wealing, who will be chasing after an Olympic triathlon team berth for the 2012 games, was simply hoping for a 5th-10th place finish and was pleasantly surprised with his form.
Nico Lebrun rounded out the top 5, and said “it’s a lot better than last year when I didn’t finish this race because of the mechanicals!�
Cody Waite finished impressively in 6th, followed by Craig Evans and the top amateur – Jason Michalak – who placed 8th overall. In his first race back after sitting out last season due to injury Trevor Glavin finished in the 9th spot.
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