WINTER XTERRA A WINNER, REGIONALS NEXT
In case you thought it was strange to have a World Championships before you ever had an event, that was then: last week. But starting now, XTERRA, the group that puts on mini-adventure races all over the country throughout the summer, will be doing it in winter too.
Trey Garman, the organization's Vice President, said, "This was the first XTERRA Winter World Championships, and it was amazing, a huge success. We had an incredibly strong pro field, featuring the best adventure racers."
The event was held at Utah's wild and rural Snowbasin, which is probably the least developed resort in North America. The miles of diverse terrain are bounded, not by condos, but by forests and cattle trails. Garman says the terrain is "perfect" for the long, exacting courses of each leg of a non-expedition, one day adventure race.
The event, billed as the first of its kind, combined four sports: ski mountaineering (climbing up the mountain on skis, then skiing down), mountain biking on a snowy cross country track, running over the snow and snowshoeing. In addition, there was a snowboard "Dash for Cash and a citizen's snowshoeing race. Total purse was $10,000. The champions of the first Championships were endurance racers Brian Smith and Sari Anderson.
XTERRA is now planning a series of regional events in various states that will culminate in the Winter World Championships at Snowbasin. As one-day adventure races continue to gain popularity, the winter races may become as hotly contested as the summer series, where racers travel across the country to gain points in regionals so they can qualify for the summer World Championships.
"I don't know that we will change anything (from the winter race), but we may offer more events for people to participate in. But the Winter Championships will always be held at Snowbasin, it's an absolutely perfect venue and won't be held anywhere else," Garman said.
The finish of this inaugural race will be talked about for years. The last leg was ski mountaineering; at the final pitch leading down to the plaza, the racers came out of the trees onto the slope, where they had to ski a 600-foot race course with eight gates. Josiah Middaugh was ahead and had the course all to himself, the sure winner. Then he fell. He slowly got up and back into the course, then fell again. Smith, a former ski racer, takes the course like Bode Miller.
With just two gates to go, Smith cuts close to the gate, inside Middaugh's line, and gets to the finish first, arms raised high in victory.
Garman says with relish, "After two hours of grueling race action, it came down to one second. Watching them all the way down, everyone went crazy. It was the best 13 seconds of racing that any of us had ever seen, and Smith won by one second."
The race finish of these two athletes will be a highlight, and a suspense point, for next year's
Championships.
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