Off-road triathlon’s biggest event of the year in Alabama – the XTERRA Southeast Championship – returns to Oak Mountain State Park in Shelby County for the ninth straight year next weekend; May 17-18. The main event combines a one-mile swim in Double Oak Lake with a grueling 20-mile mountain bike on the highly acclaimed Oak Mountain “red trail”, and a twisty, turny, up-and-down 10k off-road run. This year there are professional and amateur competitors from 30 states and seven countries competing in the event.
“This course is amazing, we love it here,” said four-time XTERRA World Champion Conrad “the Caveman” Stoltz of South Africa. “It’s a true XTERRA course with a nice swim in a beautiful lake, a fun mountain bike course and a tough run. I’ve been racing triathlon around the world for 20 years and can tell you this course is among my favorite of all-time.”
Stoltz’ isn’t the only one with high praise for the course at Oak Mountain State Park. Runner’s World Magazine called the trails one of America’s “Crown Jewels – 25 best trails in the nation,” and the International Mountain Bicycling Association granted them the prestigious EPIC designation – given only to those rare trails “guaranteed to blow your mind.”
The course lures professional athletes from around the world and amateurs from across the nation to Pelham, and the accompanying two-day XTERRA Sports Festival provides local athletes and outdoor enthusiasts an opportunity to join in the fun.
The elite race next Saturday is certain to be an exciting one – featuring the best in the U.S. including defending champ Josiah Middaugh against the World-beater Dan Hugo of South Africa who has already claimed five championship races this year.
For the women it’s all about who can catch the remarkable Flora Duffy, a two-time Olympian from Bermuda. Could this be the course where the better mountain bikers like Shonny Vanlandingham use those skills to reign in Duffy? Time will tell.
Men’s tentative pro start list…
Rank – Name – Age, Hometown
1 – Josiah Middaugh – 35, Vail-Eagle, CO
2 – Bradley Weiss – 25, Cape Town, South Africa
3 – Mauricio Mendez – 18, Mexico City, Mexico
4 – Branden Rakita – 33, Colorado Springs, CO
5 – Craig Evans – 36, Hendersonville, TN
7 – Dan Hugo – 28, Stellenbosch, South Africa
8 – Chris Ganter – 35, Boise, ID
11 – Justin Thomas – 39, Reno, NV
12 – Jeff Smith – 31, Portland, OR
14 – Ryan DeCook – 33, Rochester, MI
15 – Will Ross – 24, Anchorage, AK
17 – Nick Fisher – 28, Ogden, UT
19 – Andy Lee – 41, Lakeway, TX (Great Britain)
NR – Karsten Madsen – Guelph, Ontario, Canada
NR – Sean Bechtel – 30, Caledon, Ontario, Canada
NR – Charlie Epperson – 37, Tamuning, Guam (TN)
NR – Alex Modestou – 27, Washington, D.C.
NR – Conrad Stoltz – 40, Stellenbosch, South Africa
NR – Jean-Philippe Thibodeau – 23, Quebec, Canada
Women’s tentative pro start list…
Rank – Name – Age, Hometown
1 – Flora Duffy – 26, Boulder, CO (Bermuda)
2 – Emma Garrard – 32, Park City, Utah
3 – Shonny Vanlandingham – 44, Durango, Colorado
4 – Suzie Snyder – 32, Fredericksburg, Virginia
5 – Chantell Widney – 34, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
6 – Danelle Kabush – 39, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
7 – Kara LaPoint – 26, Truckee, CA
9 – Jamie Brede – 36, Breckenridge, Colorado
12 – Amelia McCracken – 30, Philadelphia, PA
NR – Caroline Colonna – 50, Taos, NM
NR – Christine Jeffrey – 41, Tucson, AZ (Canada)
NR – Solana Kline – 31, Bend, OR