XTERRA: Just one more day of R&R before it's go-time
By Rebecca Roozen
Oct. 28, 2006 -- Tomorrow morning 82 pros and almost 500 age groupers will head out on a punishing 27-mile journey up, down and around Haleakala Volcano at the Nissan Xterra World Championships on Maui. As the last of the athletes check in at the Maui Prince, everyone seems composed and peaceful. They're getting in their final rides and runs with CamelBaks riding piggyback. And I've seen quite a few swim sessions turned snorkeling escapades.
Come Sunday morning, all the R&R will pay off as competitors have a grueling task ahead of them. It's not just Haleakala they're up against. The 2006 race boasts the largest XTERRA Maui field yet. Here's a list of just a few guys the men will have to look out for: Defending champion, France's Nicolas LeBrun; Seth Wealing, the XTERRA USA and XTERRA U.S. pro points series champion; Canadian Brent McMahon; Mike Vine, who was fourth here last year and the 2006 winner of the mountain championship in Utah; Aussie Chris Legh, Olympic triathlon gold medalist Hamish Carter from New Zealand; and two-time Olympian Olivier Marceau.
There are 28 top XTERRA women here, too. The top pro contenders include two-time XTERRA world champ Melanie McQuaid; Renata Bucher, who's won everything she's entered in 2006 (Saipan, France, Italy, Czech, Spain and Great Britain); Sibylle Matter, the only racer in the field to have competed in three world championships this year; Jamie Whitmore, the 2004 XTERRA world champ; the light and fast Carina Wasle; and Candy Angle, the 2002 XTERRA world champ.
In addition, there are 38 athletes here who just last week finished the Hawaiian Ironman, on the Big Island. Whichever pro male and female can crank out the fastest combined times will earn $2,500 each as part of the Hawaiian Airlines Double, and the top amateurs will earn roundtrip airfare from the West Coast to Hawaii. Eneko Llanos is in great position to win as he has a 10-minute lead over Cam Widoff, who placed 12th in Kona. Others shooting for the double include Boulder's Michael Lovato, Great Britain's Dave Brown, Germany's Alexander Lang and Japan's Taro Shirato. Among the women, it's Matter, Japan's Yasuko Miyazaki and Yukako Inoue and Germany's Imke Schiersch.