Since the XTERRA World Tour started in February Dan Hugo defeated Conrad Stoltz and Brad Weiss in South Africa, Ben Allen in the Philippines, and Olly Shaw in Guam. Ben Allen took down Roger Serrano, Mitchell Anderson, and Noah Wright at Great Ocean Road, then Dan Hugo and Brad Weiss in Saipan.
Conrad Stoltz bested Allen in New Zealand while Weiss and Craig Evans finished ahead of Hugo at the West Champs, plus Braden Currie topped Olly Shaw in Motatapu, then Shaw was faster than Serrano, Josh Kenyon, and Wright in New Zealand.
The point is this, in a revolving door of head-to-heads in majors around XTERRA’s World Tour – Hugo, Currie, Allen, and Stoltz combined to win 7-of-9 championship titles and Weiss was second only to Josiah Middaugh against America’s best in the West two weeks ago. Enter Aussie Olympians Courtney Atkinson and Branden Sexton and we have one heck of a showdown in store for Saturday.
Same goes for the girls. Flora Duffy, Nicky Samuels, Renata Bucher, Jacqui Slack, and Carina Wasle have combined to win 7-of-9 XTERRA Championship races this year; and nearly all of them came against each other. Just for fun, add IM Australia Champ Rebecca Hoschke and Aussie ITU standout Penny Hosken in the mix.
“It’s simply impossible to predict who will win these races because we have so many wild cards in the field,” said Dave Nicholas, the managing director of the XTERRA World Tour. “Champs from road tri coming out to give it a go, Olympians, we got the first and third place women’s finishers from Worlds last year, and at least a dozen racers that are hot right now. It’s going to be a great show.”
XTERRA ASIA-PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP ELITES
Men (Alphabetical) – Age, Hometown
Ben Allen – 29, North Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Mitchell Anderson – 38, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Courtney Atkinson – 34, Mermaid Waters, Queensland, Australia
Braden Currie – 27, Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand
Brice Daubord – 28, Orleans, Loiret, France
Craig Evans – 36, Hendersonville, Tennessee, USA
Dan Hugo – 28, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
Todd Israel – 38, Woolloomooloo, NSW, Australia
Joshua Kenyon – 20, Taupo, New Zealand
Jarad Kohler – 31, Newport, VIC, Australia
Joseph Miller – 34, Baranggay Pajac, Lapu Lapu, Philippines
Alex Reithmeier – 31, Loftus, NSW, Australia
Roger Serrano – 23, Barcelona, Spain
Branden Sexton – 28, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Olly Shaw – 22, Rotorua, New Zealand
Conrad Stoltz – 40, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
Bradley Weiss – 25, Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa
Noah Wright – 39, Tasmania, Australia
Women (Alphabetical) – Age, Hometown
Renata Bucher – 36, Lucerne, Switzerland
Mieko Carey – 35, Tokyo, Japan
Flora Duffy – 26, Hamilton, Bermuda
Dimity-Lee Duke – 30, Roelands, WA, Australia
Rebecca Hoschke – 37, Narrabeen, NSW, Australia
Penny Hosken – 26, Ringwood North, Victoria, Australia
Jody Mielke – 42, Engadine, NSW, Australia
Elizabeth Orchard – 28, Auckland, New Zealand
Nicky Samuels – 31, Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand
Jacqui Slack – 30, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom
Carina Wasle – 29, Kundl, Austria