SEVERAL XTERRA ATHLETES SELECTED FOR LAND ROVER G4 CHALLENGE - NEVADA PASSAGE

More than half of the competitors selected for the Land Rover G4 Challenge Nevada Passage adventure competition have ties to XTERRA, including current and former USA and/or World age-group champions Tom Lyons (Reno, NV), Lisa Lieb (Durango, CO), Emma Garrard (Truckee, CA), Caroline Colonna (Taos, NM), Laura Home (Santa Cruz, CA), Tim Menoher (Erlanger, KY), and Ross McMahan (Incline Village, NV).

The adventure competition will be held May 5 – 9 throughout the south eastern part of Nevada, and serve as the national selection event for Land Rover’s Global G4 challenge.

Twenty athletes were selected from a pool of applicants that entered online at www.landroverg4challenge.com based on athletic background and off-road driving experience, and paired into co-ed teams.

The four-day multiple stage adventure includes challenges designed to test teamwork and skill such as 4x4 driving, navigating, trail running, mountain biking, and kayaking. The top two teams will advance to the international selection event in early 2009, where one team will be selected to represent the United States in the final challenge in Asia.

Last year’s Nevada Passage adventure competition champions Tim Menoher of Erlanger, Ky., and Linda Lindsay of Petaluma, Calif., were invited back to defend their title and race in the brand new Land Rover G4 Challenge format. In all, this year’s competitors represent 13 states, spanning the country from California to South Carolina and a variety of professions, including glass blower, attorney, mental health counselor and doctor of oriental medicine.

TEAM Unlimited, a Hawaii-based television events and marketing company, is producing the event and one-hour nationally syndicated TV show in conjunction with Land Rover and the Nevada Commission on Tourism. Since 1990 TEAM TV has produced more than 270 shows resulting in three regional Emmy’s and 39 Telly Awards for production excellence. TEAM Unlimited also owns and produces XTERRA off-road triathlon and train running events around the world with more than 150 races in 16 countries in 2008.

See the complete list of competitors and read more about the event at nevadapassage.com.

LEGH, WOOD WIN XTERRA AUSTRALIA
XTERRA returned down under in the grand old mining town of Daylesford in Victoria on Saturday. This quaint tourist village is about an hour or so from Melbourne and is chock full of restaurants, antiques, vintage shops, craftsmen and everything you could want, including the very gorgeous Daylesford Lake and forest. Over 450 athletes showed up for a mixed menu of mountain bike, running, short and XTERRA distance races. The weather, while a bit chilly with a sprinkle here and there, held off for a fast and safe race circuit.

Ironman racer Sam Hume and young roadie Jamie Rhodes led out of the water, but very shortly Chris Legh and Leon Griffin passed into the lead. Pre race favorite Legh had his hands full all day. After a great 4th at World’s on Maui we would have expected a bigger lead coming off the bike, but Ben Allen, Griffin and Rhodes were all within 90 seconds of Chris and runner Jared Kohler just 30 seconds back of the bunch. Legh knew he was in for a scrap but had previewed the killer 2 lap run course and was confident he was more equipped to handle an XTERRA run than the others. At the end of the first lap the big Aussie Legh had increased his lead over Griffin, and Kohler had busted his way into third while Allen faded to 6th. Expatriate Andrew Noble and former Aussie champ - the un-retired Jason Chalker -were not having stellar days. Noble was perhaps a bit tired after having won XTERRA’s in Saipan and Guam. Chalks simply said he didn’t have it on the day.

Legh (pictured on the right) glanced behind him, saw nobody, and said he was concentrating on one step at a time knowing he would have to fall to lose the race. He didn’t and won by over 2 minutes from Griffin, Kohler and Hume. Noble was valiant in 8th and the very quick run of Matt McDonough took him to 6th passing Ben Allen on the last lap.

The women’s race was taken by New Zealand’s Susie Wood (who won the 30-34 XTERRA World Champ as an amateur last year). Quick age grouper Nicola Leary was second overall with Meg Russell 2nd pro. The treat was to see two very young 15-19 girls, New Zealand’s Monique Avery who celebrated her 19th birthday and Aussie Charlotte McShane in 4th and 5th female overall just 2.5 minutes apart. Monique is the reigning 15-19 XTERRA World Champ and clearly has some new competition from Charlotte. We look forward to seeing them both in Maui.

The awards party featured about 20 kangaroo’s feeding on the fairways of the local golf course, Aussie meat pies and other local favorites including the most favorite of all Aussie foods – ice cold beer. So please think about next year, as did a few Yanks, where you can take your “down under” holiday in Australia and New Zealand and race your legs off.

XTERRA'S BIGGEST GATHERING - NEW ZEALAND
More than 2,000 athletes will be taking part in this Saturday’s XTERRA New Zealand Championship in Rotorua. It’s the largest single-day gathering for XTERRA in the world, with 11k and 21k trail runs and walks, mountain bike races, and off-road triathlons.

Last years pro champions Tim Wilding and Gina Ferguson are back to defend their titles. Wilding will face the likes of Jason Chalker, Mark Leishman, Bryan Rhodes, and Graham Wadsworth while Ferguson will be up against last week’s XTERRA Australia Champ Susie Wood, plus Sonia Foote, Catherine Dunn, Fiona Docherty, and more.

Find out all the latest info at xterraNZ.com.

STOLTZ IN SOUTH AFRICA FOR XTERRA
XTERRA legend Conrad Stoltz will return to defend his XTERRA South Africa title on April 19 after a blistering year on the international circuit. Stoltz made an impressive comeback to the multisport arena at last year's event after being out of circulation due to a serious injury sustained prior to the XTERRA USA Championships.

Six months after breaking his wrist in seven places and severely injuring his back, Stoltz had a triumphant race in Grabouw to successfully defend his title as South African champion in 2007. His superb performance on the day was an accurate indication of things to come and in October 2007, he became the first man to win three XTERRA World Championship titles (he also won in 2001 and 2002).

According to Stoltz, even though he spends most of his time abroad racing in international XTERRA events, the DUESOUTH XTERRA South African finals is the one event that he never misses. "I am really excited to be back in Stellenbosch. The training here is great and there are a lot of athletes and friends to train with. I can't wait to see the course in Grabouw as this is what draws me to the event each year, it is excellent. My biggest goal is to win my 5th XTERRA SA title. My next event after the South African Championships is XTERRA Temecula, USA," says Stoltz.

The South African XTERRA finals is part of the XTERRA Global Tour and will offer competitors the opportunity to qualify for the world championship final in Hawaii. The race consists of a 1.5km swim, 25km mountain bike and 10km trail run.

NOBLE, ANGLE HOST XTERRA CLINIC IN PA...
On Saturday April 12 at 10am, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Sports Medicine and Performance Center in Prussia, PA is honored to host XTERRA Athletes & World Champions, Candy Angle & Andrew Noble, for a free clinic to share their training secrets and expertise in swimming, running, and biking: XTERRA style. The husband-and-wife team will also be giving a CAAN SWIM clinic on April 12 from 1-5pm at the Suburban Swim Center. To reserve a spot for either clinic email XTERRA Ambassador, Sue Anne Clark at suwanne@aol.com.

As an added bonus, clinic participants will get a chance to win a free race entry to the following races: King of the Hill in NJ, Trimax in PA, and East Championship in VA.