Nissan Xterra Central Championships
Keystone, Colorado
Sunday, July 28, 2002
$15,000 pro purse
Complete Results

Reigning Nissan Xterra World Champion Conrad Stoltz picked up right where he left off last year in winning the Nissan Xterra Central Championship at Keystone Resort in Keystone, Colorado this afternoon. The off-road multisport race - second of four national championship events boasting a combined $125,000 pro purse - consisted of a 1-kilometer swim, 26k mountain bike, and 10k trail run.

Stoltz, who won the world title in Maui last October, missed the first big race of the 2002 Xterra season in Richmond, Virginia while waiting in his hometown of Stellenbosch, South Africa for his Visa papers to be processed. I missed the race by a couple of hours, it was terrible, said Stoltz. But maybe it was a good thing because I managed to get in two months of extra training.

That's not exactly good news for the rest of the field, who have watched from behind as Stoltz raced to victory in each of the last four Xterra events he's entered. Today I think it had to do with pacing, and I knew the course so that made a big difference, said Stoltz, who finished in 2:06:40 - more than two minutes ahead of Kerry Classen (2:09:11). At altitude you can't go as hard because once your anaerobic your in trouble for the rest of the day, so I took the swim easy and instead of trying to set the pace I just sat on someone's feet and drafted off him - and once I got on the bike I didn't try to catch the leader right away - I just rode away in a small gear.

Classen (Bend, Oregon) posted his second straight runner-up performance of the season to put him in the second spot of the Nissan Xterra Pro Points Series standings. The current leader through two races in the standings is Nicolas LeBrun of Digne, France. LeBrun, who captured the Nissan Xterra East Championship title last month, exited the bike-to-run transition in sixth place before passing Ned Overend, Jason Chalker, and Mike Vine on the run to finish in third place.

Xterra Australia Champion Jason Chalker turned in one of his best performances in the U.S. to come in fourth while Colorado mountain biking legend Ned Overend posted the best bike split of the day to follow in fifth. Ned has so much finesse he just kind of dances through the rocks, and dances down the hill, said Pat Brown of Overend, who will turn 47-years-young next month.

Overend came out of the water more than two minutes back and passed 41 riders to exit the bike-to-run transition in second place, but dropped three spots in the trail run. I was psyched to stay on the podium, said Overend. Nicolas ran really fast, and so did Kerry and Jason. I needed to put a few more minutes on those guys out of the bike but I had a bad swim, and was a couple minutes back out of the water - which didn't help.

In the women's race Xterra Saipan champ Jamie Whitmore (Sacramento, California) biked up and down Keystone Mountain faster than anyone to claim her second Xterra title of the season.  It was a sweet victory, said Whitmore, who did not finish at Richmond because of a busted bike seat. I think Keystone is my kind of course because it was all up and down and I'm really small and lightweight so it's easy for me to climb the hills.

The former cross country and track star at Cal State - Northridge also posted one of the fastest runs of the afternoon to cross the line in 2:30:55, nearly four minutes ahead of Melanie McQuaid of Canada. Like Classen in the men's pro division, McQuaid finished runner-up for the second straight race and is now leading the points series standings.

Local hero Kerstin Weule of Evergreen, Colorado, the winningest Xterra athlete ever with 18 titles to her credit, finished in third. Another Colorado native, Kerry Barnholt of Boulder, placed fourth and Raeleigh Tennant of Australia rounded out the top five.

Current Nissan Xterra World Champion and defending Keystone champ Anke Erlank placed 14^th. I had a great swim but right as I entered transition something happened and I went backwards on the bike ride, said Erlank. Normally, I seem to recover from that feeling as though I'm dying, but today I never did. That's to take nothing away from Jamie, she's the real deal - a great mountain biker and she can run too. I'm really happy to see such great girls coming on the Xterra circuit. It lifts the level of competition up a notch and keeps me on my toes.

TOP 10 PRO MEN
Pl Name Swim Bike Run Final
Conrad Stoltz 13:33 1:12:37 44:30 2:06:40
2 Kerry Classen 13:34 1:14:54 40:43 2:09:11
3 Nicolas LeBrun 16:15 1:13:40 39:50 2:09:45
4 Jason Chalker 13:34 1:15:55 40:49 2:10:18
5 Ned Overend 15:43 1:11:06 43:50 2:10:39
6 Seth Wealing 13:20 1:17:58 39:50 2:11:08
7 Michael Vine 14:06 1:13:32 44:11 2:11:49
8 Bevan Dougherty 13:34 1:32:28 42:29 2:14:57
9 Dominic Gillen 15:03 1:16:05 44:21 2:15:29
10 Pat Brown 14:14 1:18:05 43:23 2:15:42

TOP 10 PRO WOMEN
Pl Name Swim Bike Run Final
1 Jamie Whitmore 17:03 1:25:54 47:58 2:30:55
2 Melanie McQuaid 16:06 1:26:37 51:51 2:34:34
3 Kerstin Weule 14:56 1:31:59 48:25 2:35:20
4 Kerry Barnholt 17:37 1:27:38 50:40 2:35:55
5 Raeleigh Tennant 13:59 1:34:27 50:20 2:38:46
6 Monique Merrill 17:23 1:32:11 51:21 2:40:55
7 Melissa Thomas 17:30 1:29:34 54:02 2:41:06
8 Shari Kain 16:57 1:32:43 52:11 2:41:51
9 Katherine Zambrana 22:08 1:33:45 48:02 2:43:55
10 Jenny Tobin 17:35 1:40:21 46:20 2:44:16

NOTES: Nicolas LeBrun and Jenny Tobin posted the fastest run splits to earn the $400 cash prime. It's the second consecutive race that LeBrun has posted the fastest run split.

REMAINING 2002 NISSAN Xterra USA CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS
Nissan Xterra West Championship August 17-18 Half Moon Bay, CA
Nissan Xterra USA Championship September 21-22 Lake Tahoe, NV