THIS WEEK: XTERRA is in full summer swing with five points series races and three trail runs in locations ranging from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the outskirts of Chicago. Preview the races and look for XTERRA TV shows in your hometown below…
UPCOMING RACES:
7/14 – XTERRA Iron Creek (Spearfish, SD)
7/14 – XTERRA Snowbird Challenge Trail Run (Salt Lake City, UT)
7/14 – XTERRA Stump Jumpin Trail Run (Lawrence, KS)
7/14 – XTERRA Renegade Trail Run (Chicago, IL)
7/15 – XTERRA Thompson Lake (Poland, ME)
7/15 – XTERRA EX2 (Flintstone, MD)
7/15 – XTERRA Midwest Mudder (Lawrence, KS)
7/15 – XTERRA Vashon Island (Vashon Island, WA)
7/21 – XTERRA Hammerman (Anchorage, AK)
7/21 – XTERRA Rock in the Woods Trail Run (St. Louis, MO)
XTERRA EX2: More than 250 racers have already registered for the fourth annual XTERRA EX2 off-road triathlon at the gorgeous Rocky Gap State Park in Flintstone, MD (roughly 2.5 hours from Washington D.C. area). With its picture perfect beauty, fantastic amenities, large clear mountain lake, and challenging trail network, Rocky Gap offers a stellar venue for this nationally recognized XTERRA Point Series Race. The course consists of a fun and challenging .75-mile open water swim, a 14-mile semi-technical mountain bike, and a heart pounding 5-mile run.
XTERRA STUMP JUMPIN’: Following a hugely successful “run of events” in 2006, the XTERRA Trail Running Series returns to the Midwest for a second summer session. This year, three scenic off-road races grace the Midwest schedule, opening with the XTERRA Stump Jumpin’ Trail Stomp this Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas.
The XTERRA Stump Jumpin’ Trail Stomp is a heart poundin’, mud splatterin’ and thorn scratchin’ race through the forested trails of Clinton Lake – this is anything BUT your typical morning jaunt! As the sun crests the East horizon and the 8am gunshot start fires, athletes will blast forward through the woods of Clinton Lake like horses huffing over the prairie. With two distances, a 5k and 10k, this is the perfect event for runners of all ages and skill levels hungry for a challenge.
Future Midwest trail runs include the XTERRA Pain Terrain in Blue Springs, MO (8/18) and the XTERRA Dot Trail Trot in Kansas City, KS (9/8).
XTERRA SNOWBIRD CHALLENGE: The second event of four races in the 2007 XTERRA Utah Trail Run Series will take place Saturday with the XTERRA Snowbird Challenge 10k. Hitting an elevation gain of 8,000+ feet on its way to a mesmerizing journey through the pristine wilderness in the Wasatch Mountain Range, this race gives a new definition to the term “runner’s high”. The word ‘challenge’ is in the title of the event for good reason; competitors climb up, up, up the mountain, inhaling the fresh mountain air and giving their lungs the workout of a lifetime. At the top, with heartbeats racing and calves burning, satisfaction comes from seeing enchanting views of snow-topped mountains, the whitewater stream of Little Cottonwood Creek and the seemingly small city of Salt Lake below.
Whether a participant or spectator, the magnificence of Snowbird Mountain is undeniable. Escape the summer heat and join in for an afternoon XTERRA Trail Run with folk and bluegrass concerts playing all day at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
XTERRA RENEGADE: Just past the skyscrapers and bustling streets of the Windy City, athletes of all ages and calibers have the opportunity to run wild at the XTERRA 10k Renegade Trail Run. The race takes off at 8:00 AM on Saturday and will take competitors through the limestone paths, switchback trails and challenging hills of Deer Grove West Forest Preserve in Palatine, Illinois.
The XTERRA Renegade run is sandwiched between two other races in the three-part XTERRA Chicago Series. Participants can anticipate all of the “extras” that come standard in XTERRA trail runs including jumping over rocks and trunks of fallen trees, winding bends and beautiful scenery. We invite runners of all ages and skill levels to join the XTERRA family and run for health, for fun, or simply the feeling of organic freedom that the forest provides.
XTERRA IRON CREEK: Saturday’s race consists of a 1k swim, 22k mountain bike and 8k run in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. The swim is in Iron Creek Lake and the ride climbs up to the Old Baldy trail system entirely within forested areas with lots of technical sections on single-track. After descending back to Iron Creek Lake, the race goes to a challenging two-lap run around the lake, where spectators cheer on the racers as they tackle difficult hike sections on each lap of the run. Iron Creek is the only XTERRA event in the four state area of South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming.
XTERRA LOON RECAP: Doubling the number of finishers from last year, 192 hearty runners raced at the final XTERRA New England trail run at Loon Mountain Ski Area today in Lincoln, New Hampshire on Sunday.
"The course reminds me a European Mountain race" remarked XTERRA New England Trail Series Director Dave Dunham, who also finished second in today's race and was top Masters finisher. "People were stoked, they all had fun and enjoyed the sense of accomplishment from tackling the course today at Loon."
Today's race winners were Paul Low of Belchertown, MA and Kasie Enman of Huntington, VT. Low continued his dominance of the XTERRA New England series, finishing first in all three races. Enman, in her first XTERRA race, finished 9th overall. Besides her strength as a road runner, Enman showed her mountain running skill with a 4th place women's finish at this year's Mount Washington Road Race.
The race, which is also part of the La Sportiva USATF-NE Mountain Running Circuit, gave the competitors a mix of varied terrain and elevation change on the course. Trail consisting of a mixture of ski area cat track and ski slope made for a challenge in the wet weather. After ascending nearly 2000 feet in the first 4 miles of the course, the runners then made a long descent along the North side of the mountain where they then gained nearly 750 feet of elevation in less than three fourths of a mile, including some sections that were a 40% grade. The last ascent forced many of the competitors to a leg burning power walk before they made the final steep descent back down to the finish line.
"There were a lot of new faces out there today, I think a lot of people got their first exposure to both mountain and trail running." said Paul Kirsch, Race Director for the event. "We had competitors from ages 12 to 75 out there on the course. We're so fortunate to have such great sponsors as Inov-8, Fuel Belt and XTERRA. Without them the race wouldn't be able to happen."
One of the more remarkable finishes of the day was by 12-year-old Sean Doherty, of Conway, NH, who won the 19 and under division, finishing in 17th place overall and looking ready to run another lap as he was smiling coming across the finish line.