THIS WEEK: The Nissan Xterra Points Series takes one final breather this weekend before ripping out the final four races of the season on September 7th and 8th. Twenty-six events into the Nissan Xterra USA Championship Series and still only a handful of XTERRA's finest have been invited to the national championship in Lake Tahoe. The rest of the field for the second annual USA title race will not be officially determined until the results from the True Grit Triathlon in Colorado (Sept. 8) are entered into the system and all the points are tallied. The beauty of the points series system is that athletes can (and do) travel across the country to accumulate points on their way to regional crown's and berths into the championship race.

LAST WEEK: A trio of events brought a few athletes one-step closer to the title race in Nevada. Here are the top three men and women from each race (all on August 25, 2002):

ABC Nissan XTREME Desert Triathlon (Morristown, Arizona)

Men's Race - Name (Age Group, Time)   
Bob Mueller(35-39,2:29:52) 
David Julian (20-24,2:31:49)

Ross McMahan (30-34, 2:44:57)
Women's Race - Name (Age Group, Time)   

Serena Warner (35-39, 3:02:24) 
Jane Meneely (35-39, 3:05:32)
Christine Dunnery (30-34, 3:07:42)

Schiff Scout Mountain Bike Triathlon (Wading River, New York) 

Men's Race - Name (Hometown, Region, Time)   
Gary Jensen (Long Island, NY, NE,1:10:19) 
Michael Nahom(New Milford, CT, NE,1:11:05) 
Kevin McNamara (Mansfield Center, CT, NE,1:11:35)
Women's Race - Name (Hometown, Region, Time)   

Jael Thompson (Virginia Beach, VA, MA, 1:27:22) 
Doreen Isenberg (Long Island, NY, NE, 1:27:26)
Phoebe Anderson (Wading River, NY, NE, 1:27:36)

General Butler Off-Road Triathlon (Carrollton, Kentucky)

Men's Race - Name (Age Group, Region, Time)    
Tim Menoher  (30-34, NC,1:18:27) 
Brad Myers(35-39, NC, 1:20:45) 
Eric Justice (25-29, NC,1:20:52)
Women's Race - Name (Age Group, Region, Time)   

Amanda Holzhausen (25-29, NC, 1:43:38) 
Crystal Wheatley (25-29, NC, 1:49:40)
Terri Kendall (30-34, NC, 1:59:57)

WORLD NEWS: The 3rd annual XTERRA Great Britain Championship will be held this Sunday in the county of Somerset against the backdrop of Exmoor National Park. The UK race boasts a strong, fast, and diverse field to include defending XTERRA UK Champ Royce Kortekaas (Holland), XTERRA Saipan Champion Mike Vine (Canada), South African Gary Mandy, Hungarian Viktor Toth, Allan Masson from Denmark, and Michal Pilousek from the Czech Republic.

XTERRA PROFILE: Robin DeRuwe (38, Spokane, Washington). Robin graces XTERRA with the classic small town girl makes good story. Originally from Kahlotus, Washington, where her nearest neighbor lived five miles away and her graduating class had eight students, DeRuwe went on to graduate from Washington State University with a degree in clothing and textiles and is now the owner of Fitness Fanatics - a sporting goods store in Spokane. In just her first season racing XTERRA she leads the 35-39 age group bracket in the North West Region and has risen to the top without venturing outside her region - or to a regional. With three consecutive division titles in NXPS races at: Vashon Island, WA (K2 Off-Road Triathlon), La Grande, OR (Solstice Triathlon), and Sand Point, ID (Lake to Forest Triathlon), DeRuwe has achieved her goal of qualifying for nationals. Her favorite XTERRA moment happened at the Solstice when, My cleat came loose and I couldn't get out of my pedal so I took my foot out of my shoe and walked up the hill in my sock.  I got most of the way up this long hill and then looked down and noticed my shoe had fallen off the petal.  So I ran back down the hill, got my shoe - put it on - and ran back up the hill. Needless to say, XTERRA is not for wimps or girls with perfect nails. Robin lists her pre-race ritual as camping the night before the race and eating s'mores (a graham cracker sandwich with chocolate and marshmallows).  That's great news for the droves of fans in Kahlotus, because there is no better place than Lake Tahoe (home to the national championship) and its untamed outdoors for great camping spots - and hot Summer nights that are suited for eating s'mores.

NISSAN XTERRA PRO POINTS SERIES UPDATE - By Race Director David Nicholas

SO WHERE IS THIS PRO POINTS RACE THING GOING?

    Headed into the Lake Tahoe finals the only thing that is sure about who will be the 2002 Champion is that nothing is sure. The women's race could not be tighter. Melanie McQuaid and Jamie Whitmore are tied at 190 with 2001 Champ Anke Erlank only 21 points behind. Although she is not healthy, the wonderful Kerstin Weule is 26 points back and is not out of the running by far. So let's do a what if. What if Anke wins? She then needs Melanie and Jamie to finish 4th or worse for her to win back-to-back championships. Between the top two women, they need only to beat each other and make sure they finish no worse than 3rd should Anke run away with the race like she did last year. If Anke doesn't win, then it is totally a head-to-head, mark-the-other-player race. With a very resurgent Shari Kain and Melissa Thomas back on form, finishing 3rd is no guarantee. Both these women are strong cyclists and should Mel or Jamie have a mechanical, or a bad day, they could find themselves in for a nasty surprise.

    The men, though not tied, still have everything up for grabs. Conrad Stoltz is looking unbeatable but still leads by only 10 points from Nico LeBrun. Kerry Classen is 28 points back of Conrad but like Anke, if the top two have bad days, he could win it all at Tahoe. If Nico wins and Conrad is second they end up tied for points with 290 each. The tiebreaker goes to the highest finisher at the final event and that would make the Frenchman champion. If Classen wins, Nico finishes second and Conrad third, Conrad would win by a slim margin of 282 points to 280. Classen would still be third with 272. For the men there are a bunch of wildcards who could simply mess everything up for Conrad, Nico and Kerry. The biggest threat to upset the top three must be Steve Larsen. Since changing from pure cycling to Xterra to Ironman racer, Larsen has shown he can win at most anything and will rejoin us at Tahoe. The rest of the pack includes wonder boy Tyler Johnson, who showed he is ready to podium with a brilliant 3rd at Half Moon Bay. Aussie Jason Chalker lives in the area and knows the trails well; Mike Vine is getting faster each race and road warrior duathlete/triathlete Marcel Vifian is entered - along with Danish triathlete Allan Mansson and Canadian pro mountain biker Geoff Kabush.

    It is a promoter's dream to have such tight racing. Making a prediction is a dangerous thing, but I'll make one the week of the race and the Kahuna is rarely wrong. Keep your eyes on these pages.

KAHUNA'S KORNER:  Most of us are racers.  That doesn't exactly mean racing in an XTERRA, what I mean is at heart we are all competitive.  We like that feeling of going out on a limb, not being totally secure in what we do, taking a chance.  Don't put that into the category of risk taker - cause the most competitive racers I know rarely take risky chances.  They go outside the envelope and do some things that appear pretty bizarre, but 99% of the time a real racer knows he/she can pull off what they are trying to do.  That's the essence of XTERRA. 

    All of us are willing to and want to do those kinds of things that are not considered usual.  We ride our bikes too much and sometimes we do it in places that a normal person would consider    "dangerous".  But we know if situations get sketchy, we just get off and walk it.  We will take a vacation without one hotel reservation.  Maybe we'll camp, maybe we'll just stop in a place we like, rather than stop at a place we are supposed to like.  Maybe we'll stay 2-3 days instead of moving on to the next reserved and planned place.  Some think that going to a loud, noisy,   sensory deprivating car race is fun.  Others will climb a rock face, ski or snowboard off a cliff, trek over a mountain for days or soak themselves trying to shoot some white water in a flimsy, little vessel.  And every time we do one of those things, we're    pretty sure it's going to be just right.  That's the difference between a racer and a risker.  That's what makes those of you who race Xterra's so unbelievable. I have said a dozen times the best safety plan we have are the athletes.  Racers know better than anyone what they can do - and rarely cross the line.  We have dozens of Police, marshals, lifeguards and assorted folks trying to keep things safe, but the real bottom line is that our athletes are good and know their capabilities.  Yep, sometimes things break or an unexpected situation happens and we get dinged, but that's part of it too.  You can't get that thrill without a consequence or two.  And that's nothing to be ashamed of; it's just being a racer.