Danao, Cebu, Philippines – Bradley Weiss from South Africa and Carina Wasle from Austria captured the 7th annual XTERRA Philippines Championship elite race titles on a brutally long, hot day in Danao on Sunday, April 23, 2017.
It’s the third straight XTERRA Philippines title for Weiss and the third win this season for Wasle, who now has 16 majors in her career.
“Brutally hot race and probably the longest, hottest, and hardest race ever in my six years of racing XTERRA,” said Weiss. “Very stoked to come out on top and winning my third race in a row here in the Philippines is the cherry on top for sure.”
As for Wasle, who won at XTERRA Saipan in March and XTERRA Reunion just last weekend, it’s amazing she was able to finish this grueling race having just broken her toe less than a week ago while entering the swim at Reunion.
“I knew I was in good shape, but I didn’t know if my toe would stop me from having a good run,” said Wasle. “Turned out okay and it was the perfect race for me today. I couldn’t be happier.”
Complete Results / Pictures
In the men’s race the reigning XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour Champion Ben Allen was first out of the water, with Sam Osborne following steps behind into transition. Weiss was about one-minute back, followed by Kieran McPherson another minute behind, then Olly Shaw in fifth.
“I had a pretty solid swim, lost about a minute to Ben and Sam,” said Weiss. “I closed the gap about 7km into the bike and didn’t really lose it from there. Sam pushed me hard but I got a gap at the start of the second 20km loop and opened it from there.”
As proof of how difficult the new Danao bike course was (40kms with 1,500-meters of elevation gain in searing heat and humidity) Weiss was the only racer all day to break the two-hour mark for the bike portion. His bike split of 1:59:40 was more than six-minutes better than Osborne’s.
“Had 6mins off the bike and just survived the run, really, to make it to the finish line,” said Weiss. “It was the most challenging bike course and I do enjoy the challenge, and I love mountain biking so I won the race through the mountain biking leg.”
Osborne, who won XTERRA New Zealand last weekend on a much cooler day in his hometown of Rotorua, said it was one of the hottest and hardest courses he’s ever done and was quick to praise Weiss on his effort, “Well done to Bradley, he was super strong today,” said Osborne.
Kieran McPherson finished third, followed by Ben Allen, who had several mechanicals on the bike, and former “Mr. XTERRA” award-winner Will Kelsay in 5th.
In the women’s race, it was Jessica Koltz was first out of the water (6th overall), followed 20-seconds later by Jacqui Allen then Wasle and Penny Slater two minutes behind.
Wasle took over on the bike, posting the fastest split by more than 13-minutes to Allen, and had the fastest run as well to take the tape in 4:07:49.
“I still don’t like the heat and humidity, but it’s the same for everyone,” said Wasle. “What I really do enjoy is traveling a lot to new places, seeing the different cultures, and making friends. I love racing too, it’s always a new challenge and that motivates me to do it all over again. Here in Cebu everything is perfect. Princess and the Sunrise Events team take care of us and we have quite a lot of fun beside the training.”
Jacqui Allen looked to be comfortably in second-place following the bike leg but suffered from dehydration and had to pull out. That left her pupil, Penny Slater in her rookie year as an elite, to take second-place followed by the American Jessica Koltz.
XTERRA Danao Elite Results
MALE:
1 Bradley Weiss, RSA 3:16:00
2 Sam Osborne, NZL 3:23:33
3 Kieran McPherson, NZL 3:34:27
4 Ben Allen, AUS 3:44:26
5 Will Kelsay, USA 3:50:48
FEMALE:
1 Carina Wasle, AUT 4:07:49
2 Penny Slater, AUS 4:36:21
3 Jessica Koltz, USA 5:22:53