The following report is from Trey Garman of Xterra:
WAILEA, MAUI, HI (October 27, 2002) – The competition was fierce but Conrad Stoltz (29, Stellenbosch, South Africa) stole the show once again and defended his crown at the seventh annual Nissan Xterra World Championship at the Outrigger Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii today.
Stoltz, the winner of the last seven XTERRA races he’s entered, aggressively attacked the dangerous bike portion of the race to pull off a one-minute victory over Eneko Llanos of Spain. Stoltz crossed the line in 2:22:55, just more than a minute ahead of Llanos (2:23:57) who posted the fastest run split of the day.
“Things went wrong today on the bike climb – my gears were jumpy and I was losing pressure in my tire,” said the two-time Nissan Xterra World Champion. “I knew I had to have some time going into the run so I let it all out on the downhill. I was going frighteningly fast and ended up in the bushes a few times but it was still by far the best downhill I’ve ever done on the mountain bike.”
The bike course in Maui climbs 2,300 feet up the slopes of Haleakala (the worlds largest dormant Volcano) and the final descent, labeled “The Plunge”, drops 1,420 feet to the bike-to-run transition area in less than one-mile.
Hot on his tails was Llanos, who was trading leads with Stoltz through the mid-way point of the bike. Last year in Maui Llanos watched a mechanical take away a possible win.
“Today I took my revenge,” said Llanos. “Last year I felt so good before I broke my chain and today I had no problems and it was perfect. I’m very happy with my race. Conrad put a lot of time on me in the downhill and that is where I lost the race.”
Stoltz bike split was two-minutes faster than anyone else in the talent-laden pro field. Mix that with the fifth-best swim time and the third strongest run and you have his season-long secret to success.
“XTERRA is my passion and my focus. It’s been my goal this year and I’ve trained hard for these races,” said Stoltz, who was first off the bike at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. “I’m looking forward to many more years of XTERRA because it is a sport that is expanding and the competition gets better every race. It’s a great fit for me.”
Nicolas LeBrun of France had an error-free race to finish third and Canada’s Mike Vine was right behind him in fourth. Frenchmen Olivier Marceau led in the early stages of the bike course before a flat set him back and he was never able to catch-up to the front again.
In the women’s race Candy Angle surprised everyone but herself and her partner and coach, pro male Andrew Noble, by winning the biggest race of the year. The 33-year-old from Weymouth, Massachusetts (originally from Pennsylvania) came out of the water just seconds behind Australia’s Raeleigh Tennant and put together a cautious and steady bike with the second fastest-run for her first XTERRA World Championship.
Despite the fact that she showed signs of ever-improving success with XTERRA (won the XTERRA Czech Republic race in June and placed third at the Nissan Xterra USA Championship last month) not many counted on such a brilliant performance.
“I was just really in the zone today,” said Angle. “I felt good, I was comfortable, I’ve adjusted quite a few things with the help of Andrew, and am really just hitting my peak now.”
The women’s race was one of the tightest and most exhilarating in recent memory with XTERRA Pro Points Champion Jamie Whitmore (26, Elk Grove, California) and Angle trading leads on the run until the final stages of the race. Angle took advantage of a loose rocky beach section titled “Salt and Pepper Beach” to sneak past Whitmore for good and sprint to the finish line.
Shari Kain, the 1999 XTERRA World Champion, hammered out her best race of the year to finish in third and was followed by Raeleigh Tennant (who had her best-ever Maui race) and Melissa Thomas - who posted the fastest bike split of the day.
