RICHMOND, VA – Father’s Day couldn’t have gone any better for Josiah Middaugh from Vail, Colorado as the 29-year-old turned in a brilliant bike and gutsy run to chase down South African Dan Hugo in the last mile to become the first American since Michael Tobin in 2000 to win the XTERRA East Championship on the epic trails of the James River Park System in Richmond today.

Middaugh, with a winning time of 2:02:51 – just 24-seconds ahead of Hugo, has been the top American in the XTERRA U.S. Pro Series for three of the last four years but this is just his second XTERRA championship race victory, and first since winning the Mountain crown in 2004.

“This one is for all the Father’s out there,” said Middaugh, who has two and four-year-old boys, to an appreciative crowd at the awards ceremony.

Overnight showers and early morning cloud cover created ideal racing conditions and a fast course with temperatures in the mid 80’s compared to the high 90’s just yesterday.

The short swim across the James River was predictably unpredictable with shallow water that was just knee deep at some points so racers could dolphin dive sections in the middle of the James. Craig Evans was first out of the water but after a quarter-mile run to the swim-to-bike transition Hugo was first out on the bike just 14 minutes after the race started. Hugo’s lead lasted just seconds, however, as Conrad Stoltz powered past him and started building a huge gap on the rest of the field.

This bike course is renowned for having some of the most technical trails in XTERRA and nobody handles the tricky stuff better than Stoltz – and through the first third of the course he’d already put a minute-thirty on Hugo and Evans. But what was shaping up to be a great race for 2nd place turned into the winner’s dual when Stoltz, winner of the last three East Championship titles, punctured his back tire.

“Went too fast and got a small cut in my bike tire,” said Stoltz, who was able to overcome a flat in Alabama last week to win the Southeast Championship. “I tried to fix it and my CO2 didn’t work, then Rom (Akerson) gave me his CO2 but by the time I got going again I was several minutes and 15 or so riders back.”

Knowing he could drop this race in the Pro Series and make up for it in Ogden at the Mountain Champs, and in order to save his strength for the next three consecutive XTERRA championship races in the United Kingdom (June 21), Czech Republic (June 28), and France (July 6), Stoltz called it a day.

“It's too bad because this is my favorite race, and I love this run. I really enjoy Richmond because there are spectators in the middle of the forest and they yell your name and cheer for you and it really energizes you. I felt really good too, so it’s disappointing,” said Stoltz.

Stoltz’ loss was seemingly Hugo’s gain, as the young up-and-comer took advantage of a similar situation when his mentor flatted to win the XTERRA South Africa Championship back in April. Towards the very end of the bike Hugo was one-minute 15 seconds ahead of a chase pack led by Middaugh that included Tyler Johnson and Craig Evans.

“Tyler was on my wheel the whole race and he rode great so we moved through the field together,” said Middaugh, who came out of the water with Johnson about a minute-20 after the leaders and together they passed the 11 pros ahead of them (including a tire-fixing Stoltz) to join Evans behind Hugo. Johnson had the fastest bike split at 1:10:01 and Middaugh had the second-best split in 1:10:04.

“I’d really like to thank Conrad for letting someone else win,” laughed Middaugh. “It was sad to see him out there with a flat but nice to have a race for first rather than a race for 2nd for a change.”

Heading into the run Hugo had about a minute-30 on Johnson and Middaugh, and Johnson was thinking this could be his day.

“I just went out way too hard and hit the wall,” said Johnson, who literally hit the wall a couple miles into the run when he reached the famous 80-foot vertical climb up old wood railroad ties dubbed the “Mayan Ruins” – which looks just as gnarly as a 2000-year-old temple.

Middaugh, on the other hand, was calm and collected. “Tyler was just gone, he went out so fast but I had to just get my breathing under control and work out some cramps,” he said.

Just after the big climb Middaugh took the lead and started making ground on Hugo, but it wasn’t until the final mile that he made his move.

“When Josiah passed me I was already giving it all I had so there was nothing I could do,” said Hugo. ‘When I realized it was him I just asked who was behind and he was kind enough to tell me I had some room.”

Hugo crossed the line just 24 seconds later in 2nd place for his third consecutive runner-up performance this year. Johnson was another 27 seconds back in third, his best showing in years and third top five in Richmond.

Andrew Noble had his best race of the season and chased down Ryan DeCook, Kelly Guest, and Craig Evans to move from 7th to 4th. Evans went into transition in 4th and held off everyone but Noble for 5th.

Ryan Ignatz had his best race of the season by posting the fastest run of the day (36:29) to move into 6th, and also of note was the young Ryan DeCook, who had the fifth-best bike split and went out in the run in 5th before a bunch of really fast runners chased him down and left him in 10th (Still his best outing as a pro). Rom Akerson from Costa Rica continued to be consistent with his third consecutive top seven finish.

McQUAID TURNS THE PAGE

In the women’s race three-time XTERRA World Champion Melanie McQuaid of Canada took the lead early on in the bike, never trailed thereafter, and cruised across the finish line in 2:18:45, more than four minutes ahead of runner-up Jenny Smith of New Zealand. It’s the second win for McQuaid in Richmond, her last coming in 2004.

“It was really important to silence my own inner-critic and show myself what I can do,” said McQuaid, referring to a rare sub-par 8th place finish at the Southeast Championship last weekend. “I was kind of hard on myself all week and finally last night I just put last week aside, told myself today is a new day, and just went for it.”

McQuaid was certainly back to her normal self, coming out of the water just a minute behind super-swimmer Christine Jeffrey (who once again had the fastest swim split), Candy Angle, and Lesley Paterson. She made her way to the front in a matter of minutes, put in the best bike of the day (a 1:18:34, almost a minute better than Jenny Smith and two minutes faster than Shonny Vanlandingham) then had the second-best run to Danelle Kabush’s 42:42.

“I had a super day, there were a lot of “yippee” and “woohoo’s” coming from me out there because I was having so much fun,” said McQuaid. “This is my favorite bike course by far; the trails are in amazing condition and so much fun to ride. Richmond is lucky to have so many great volunteers that take care of this place.”

Jenny Smith and Shonny V were the 11th and 12th female pros out of the water and more than two minutes behind McQuaid. While pushing each other the pair made up a ton of ground and had a tight race for second.

“It was entertaining to have Shonny out there on the bike with me and she was great to ride with because I could see that I wasn’t suffering alone,” said Smith, who’s come along way back since tearing her Achilles in January.

Shonny came off the bike in third and passed Smith, and the two ran together for the last couple miles but at the end Smith kicked into another gear to take second.

“I had a hard day on the bike, got two flats – my left leg and my right leg,” laughed Vanlandingham, who picked up her first XTERRA championship win at the Southeast regional in Alabama last Sunday. “I’m still learning how to prepare for XTERRA and think I just over did it this week. It’s good though because I’m learning, and I’m really impressed with Richmond, they’ve got a great park system here. This course reminds me of some of the world cups I’ve done in Europe where they have small forests around cities and use every inch of available space for trails.”

Candy Angle had her best race of the season to finish fourth, Danelle Kabush’s speedy run moved her into 5th from 7th coming off the bike, and Kristy Lanier finished 6th for the second straight week.

Quote of the day: “This course is insane, certainly worthy of flying half way around the world to race here.”
– Dan Hugo.

2008 XTERRA East Championship Pro Results ($20,000 Pro Purse)

TOP 15 PRO MEN

Pl Name Age Hometown Final Time Purse Pts
1 Josiah Middaugh 29 Vail, Colorado 2:02:51 $2,500 100
2 Dan Hugo 23 Stellenbosch, South Africa 2:03:15 $2,000 90
3 Tyler Johnson 28 Chester, Connecticut 2:03:42 $1,500 82
4 Andrew Noble 42 Gold Coast, Australia 2:05:44 $1,200 75
5 Craig Evans 30 Spring Hill, Tennessee 2:07:03 $900 69
6 Ryan Ignatz 29 Boulder, Colorado 2:07:12 $700 63
7 Rom Akerson 24 Tambor, Costa Rica 2:07:28 $500 58
8 Kelly Guest 31 Vancouver, B.C., Canada 2:07:39 $350 53
9 Dominic Gillen 30 Milford, Connecticut 2:08:33 $250 49
10 Ryan DeCook 27 Rochester, Michigan 2:09:21 $200 45
Also receiving points: Mark Leishman ($150, 41), Seth Wealing ($100, 37), Mike Vine (34), Will Kelsay (31), Trevor Glavin (28).

TOP 15 PRO WOMEN

Pl Name Age Hometown Final Time Purse Pts
1 Melanie McQuaid 35 Victoria, B.C., Canada 2:18:45 $2,500 100
2 Jenny Smith 34 Westport, New Zealand 2:23:06 $2,000 90
3 Shonny Vanlandingham 38 Durango, Colorado 2:23:12 $1,500 82
4 Candy Angle 37 Weymouth, Massachusetts 2:24:54 $1,200 75
5 Danelle Kabush 33 Canmore, Alberta, Canada 2:25:46 $900 69
6 Kristy Lanier 37 Marlinton, West Virginia 2:26:00 $700 63
7 Lesley Paterson 28 Stirling, Scotland 2:27:53 $500 58
8 Marion Summerer 26 Freiburg, Germany 2:29:39 $350 53
9 Nic Leary 24 Palmerston North, New Zealand 2:32:06
49
10 Jenny Tobin 39 Boise, Idaho 2:32:08
45
Also receiving points: Amber Monforte (41), Christine Jeffrey (37), Emma Garrard (34), Sara Tarkington (31), Alisha Lion (28).
TOP SPLITS
Fastest 0.93-mile river swim (time taken out of transition): Dan Hugo (14:41), Christine Jeffrey (15:48)
Fastest 17.2-mile mountain bike: Tyler Johnson (1:10:01), Melanie McQuaid (1:18:34)
Fastest 6.2-mile trail run: Ryan Ignatz(36:29), Danelle Kabush (42:42)

XTERRA U.S. PRO SERIES: The 2008 XTERRA National Championship Series for pros consists of five events:

May 18 - XTERRA West Championship (Temecula, CA)
June 8 - XTERRA Southeast Championship (Pelham, AL)
June 15 - XTERRA East Championship (Richmond, VA)
Aug. 16 - XTERRA Mountain Championship (Ogden/Snowbasin, UT)
Oct. 5 - XTERRA USA Championship (Lake Tahoe, NV)

The top 15 pros at each event are awarded points based on overall pro finish. Pros can drop one of their scores from the first four events, but must count the points they get (or don’t get) in Nevada. Thus, the final point total combines athletes best three scores in the first four races, plus the USA Championship race points. He/she with most points in the end is declared Series Champ. The U.S. Series will dish out $190,000 in prize money. $20,000 in Temecula, Pelham, Richmond, and Ogden, $40,000 in Nevada, plus $70,000 will be distributed to the top overall points scorers in the Series.
Note: The XTERRA World Championship Oct. 26 in Makena, Maui is a stand-alone event worth a $125,000.
2008 XTERRA America Tour Pro Point Series Standings - Men

West Southeast East Mountain USA Total
1 Dan Hugo 90 90 90 270
2 Craig Evans 58 82 69 209
3 Conrad Stoltz 100 100 200
4 Rom Akerson 63 58 58 179
5 Josiah Middaugh 75 100 175
6 Kelly Guest 53 69 53 175
7 Brian Smith 82 63 145
8 Tyler Johnson 49 82 131
9 Dominic Gillen 75 49 124
10 Mike Vine 41 45 34 120
11 Ryan Ignatz 53 63 116
12 Seth Wealing 69 37 106
13 Ryan Decook 28 28 45 101
14 Mark Leishman 41 41 82
15 Andrew Noble 75 75
16 Cody Waite 37 34 71
17 Branden Rakita 31 37 68
18 Jordan Jones 34 31 65
19 Jimmy Archer 49 49
20 Jim Vance 45 45
21 Will Kelsay 31 31
22 Trevor Glavin 28 28

Pl Pro Series Women
West Southeast East Mountain USA Total
1 Melanie McQuaid 100 53 100 253
2 Danelle Kabush 75 58 69 202
3 Lesley Paterson 49 90 58 197
4 Shonny Vanlandingham 100 82 182
5 Christine Jeffrey 63 82 37 182
6 Kristy Lanier 53 63 63 179
7 Amber Monforte 69 69 41 179
8 Jenny Tobin 82 49 45 176
9 Jenny Smith 75 90 165
10 Marion Summerer 90 53 143
11 Candy Angle 41 75 116
12 Nic Leary 45 49 94
13 Emma Garrard 58 34 92
14 Michellie Jones 45 45
15 Linda Gallo 41 41
16 Lisa Isom 37 37
17 Sara Tarkington 31 31
18 Alisha Lion 28 28

UP NEXT: For the U.S. Pro Series it’s the XTERRA Mountain Championship in Ogden/Snowbasin, Utah on August 16. Overseas a stacked pro field including Nico Lebrun, Conrad Stoltz, and Dan Hugo will race at XTERRA Wales in the UK on Saturday (where Melanie McQuaid will square off against current XTERRA World Champ Julie Dibens in the women’s race). Then the XTERRA Czech Championship and XTERRA France Championship on consecutive weekends.

AMATEUR RACE: Erin Kummer from Boulder, Colorado and James Walsh from Carlsbad, California were the top female and male finishers for the second straight week (the pair also won the amateur races at the XTERRA Southeast Championship in Alabama last Sunday). Walsh was the 18th overall finisher while Kummer placed 14th overall female. The top Virginian across the line was Justin Riddle (2nd amateur and 19th overall) from King George with a time of 2:18:08. The top finisher from Richmond was Rudy Kahsar (2nd in the 20-24 division, 30th overall). The top female Virginian was Danelle Grant of Charlottesville, who won the 30-34 division in 2:47:12. The top female from Richmond was Kate Lucas who won the 40-44 division in 2:54:00. Also of note, Michelle Lindsay of Blacksburg won the 25-29 division in 2:47:29, and Tom Doyle of Midlothian won the 60-64 division in 3:10:46.

XTERRA EAST CHAMPS (FEMALE BY DIV.)

15 - 19 Sarah Carter 4:21:33 Mattituck, NY
20 - 24 Erin Kummer 2:46:07 Boulder, CO
25 - 29 Michelle Lindsay 2:47:29 Blacksburg, VA
30 - 34 Danelle Grant 2:47:12 Charlottesville, VA
35 - 39 Laura Home 2:47:25 Santa Cruz, CA
40 - 44 Kate Lucas 2:54:00 Richmond, VA
45 - 49 Valerie Hardin 3:00:03 Doylestown, PA
50 - 54 Annette Macniven 3:19:25 Wainscott, NY

XTERRA EAST CHAMPS (MALE BY DIV.)

15 - 19 Matus Kriska 2:34:45 Mt. Airy, NC
20 - 24 Ian Sullivan 2:22:05 Jericho, VT
25 - 29 Brian Barrett 2:23:39 Mesa, AZ
30 - 34 James Walsh 2:15:21 Carlsbad, CA
35 - 39 Matt Boobar 2:20:33 Plymouth, NH
40 - 44 Scott Zavack 2:30:08 Los Gatos, CA
45 - 49 Jim James 2:25:26 Ann Arbor, MI
50 - 54 Daniel Nolan 2:26:36 Chapel Hill, NC
55 - 59 Don Morrison 3:03:00 W. Brandywine, PA
60 - 64 Tom Doyle 3:10:46 Midlothian, VA
65 - 69 Peter Lilley 3:31:46 Charlotte, NC
70+ Nathaniel Grew 4:04:39 Costa Rica
PC Rich Ingram 3:13:02 Dahlonega, GA

XTERRA COLLEGIATE DIVISION: Justin Morison of Virginia Tech University and Jennifer Belt of Virginia Commonwealth University won the men’s and women’s collegiate divisions. Morison finished in 2:49:12, more than a minute ahead of fellow Tech racer Jordan Chang, while Belt crossed the line in 2:50:04.

A special thanks to Nathan Burrell, the trails manager for the James River Park System, the Richmond Chapter of MORE (Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts), the James River Outdoor Coalition, Friends of the James River, Richmond Sportsbackers and all the volunteers who have dedicated countless hours of work towards creating a magnificent trails system for the XTERRA Tribe and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy.

The XTERRA East Championship is presented by Paul Mitchell and XTERRAGear.com. Sponsors include Breeder’s Choice, GU, Gatorade, Rodale, Zorrel, and the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

TEAM Unlimited, a Hawaii-based television events and marketing company, owns and produces XTERRA. In 2008 there will be more than 100 XTERRA off-road triathlon events held in 16 countries. It all started with 123 competitors one afternoon in Maui 12 years ago, and has since evolved into the most prestigious off-road multisport race in the world. There are 30,000+ competitors, ages 13-71, from all 50 states and more than 40 countries competing in XTERRA events. TEAM Unlimited also produces a 50-race XTERRA Global Trail Running Series, the Land Rover G4 Challenge Nevada Passage adventure competition, the XTERRA Winter World Championship, and more than a dozen TV shows each year. Since 1990 TEAM Unlimited has produced more than 275 television shows resulting in three regional Emmy’s and 39 Telly Awards for production excellence.