Francisco Serrano won the XTERRA U.S. Pro Series opener at the XTERRA West Championship on a cool morning around the desert of Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada today.
The race started in the calm 67-degree waters of Lake Las Vegas fronting the Reflection Bay Golf Clubhouse with Australian XTERRA star Ben Allen leading everyone out of the water. His lead wouldn’t last long, however, as former Olympian “Paco” Serrano from Monterrey, Mexico stormed to the front in the first mile and never looked back.
“I felt really good, and it was a fast swim, faster than I expected,” said Serrano, who has been racing XTERRA on-and-off since 2004 and is a three-time XTERRA Mexico Champion. “Ben was about 35 seconds ahead out of the water but I was able to catch him fast. He stayed close though and came back on the down hills. I knew Josiah (Middaugh) was back there somewhere and going to be really fast and I knew he might catch me but thought if I did everything perfect I’d have a shot at the win. Everything went smooth, my nutrition, my water, both transitions. It was just a great race.”
Middaugh had the fastest bike split of the day (1:11:18), almost two minutes better than Serrano, but still couldn’t make up the difference he lost in the swim (2:24) by the bike-to-run transition.
“I didn’t see that coming,” said Middaugh, who had won the last two West Championship titles here in the desert. “I got into the second lap on the bike and thought Ben was in the lead and it wasn’t until I caught him that I realized Paco was still a minute-half up front. So then I poured it on hard the last half of the bike trying to play catch-up, burnt some matches there and didn’t have a lot left on the run.”
Serrano had the fastest run of the day in 34:07 and took the tape in 2:06:56, nearly two minutes ahead of Middaugh.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Serrano. “I know Josiah is among the very best of the best and it’s an honor to be on the podium with him and the other guys. I can’t remember ever beating him before but like I said, I knew this is like my perfect course with the climbing, dirt, and fast running.”
The ever-humble Middaugh, who has now finished second in his last four races (to Ruben Ruzafa at the XTERRA USA and World Championship races last year, and last month to Rom Akerson at XTERRA Costa Rica), was able to take it all in stride.
“You don’t learn anything from winning,” he smiled. “Nothing went wrong. I just came up short. Francisco kind of led from start to finish. I got close on the bike and maybe about a mile into the run and then he poured it on again. He looked real fresh out there, had a good turnover and was just hard to catch. He was strong all day. I felt like I put in a really good effort and I put it all out there.”
While Serrano and Middaugh were in a race all their own up front, Chris Ganter had the race of his life five minutes behind them. The 36-year-old from Boise, Idaho passed 10 guys on the bike to move into the third spot where he finished for his first career podium.
“Definitely my career best XTERRA performance, by far,” said Ganter, perhaps motivated on the day by his lack of mention in the pre-race prognostications. “A lot of hard work goes into the off-season, and I give a lot of the credit to my coach for putting the pieces of the puzzle together for me, and for my sponsors support that has allowed me to train and go after this like a professional.”
Ganter was also missing his signature mustache for this one, perhaps streamlining his efforts a bit … “kind of the opposite of a playoff beard,” he laughed.
Allen overcome the understandable fatigue associated with crossing numerous time zones with races in the Western Pacific, then over to Australia, and finally to Vegas over the last couple weeks and finished fourth, holding off a hard-charging Branden Rakita by just three seconds.
“When Serrano and Josiah came past I just didn’t have that extra gear to push that I normally would have if I was fresh,” he explained. “Those early races seem to be taken its toll on me now. I tried to stay with Serrano when he came by but he attacked hard and I seemed stuck in a one pace rhythm. These guys are just too strong to not have your best. I’m realistic about it though, and won’t get too down on myself. I’ve had a good early season and really I’m here for the experience, and to get used to the U.S.”
Allen will now head to Langkawi, Malaysia via an airport stop-over in Australia to contest Bradley Weiss for the XTERRA Asian Tour Championship next Saturday.
“I was going to opt not to go but then I would’ve handed the Asian Tour title to Brad on a silver platter,” said Allen. “As it is, I’ll get their Friday afternoon for a Saturday race. I’ll be smashed but give it everything I got.”
Rakita was strong all day and nearly caught Allen at the tape but ran out of real estate.
“I was in an all-out sprint in the home stretch and could see Ben right in front of me but just ran out of room,” he explained.
1 Francisco Serrano 2:06:56
2 Josiah Middaugh 2:08:44
3 Chris Ganter 2:13:48
4 Ben Allen 2:14:53
5 Branden Rakita 2:14:56
6 Karsten Madsen 2:15:47
7 Craig Evans 2:17:16
8 Brad Zoller 2:17:54
9 Alex Modestou 2:18:42
10 Ryan Ignatz 2:19:18