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XTERRA UK Championships 2007 Race reports - the photos tell it all!

What a glorious weekend, beautiful sunshine, pleasant temps, hot racing and the event embraced by the local community at its new venue.

XTERRA UK Championships 2007 was the grand finale to the European tour with the final placings being decided. A strong male Professional field assembled to fight out for the final placings with Nicolas Labrun and Ronny Deitz set for a head to head and 2006 Winner and top American Seth Wealing coming to test the European field ahead of the World Championships in Maui on 28th October. The women’s championship was already decided and Ezster Erdelyi from Hungary only had to finish to secure her first European title.

With so much at stake the pro athletes started arriving on Thursday to ride and run the course ahead of clash on Sunday. Many had made training visits in the preceding months so they were well prepared.

By the time the majority of people started arriving on Friday evening Resolven Rugby club had been turned into the event arena and temp campsite, nestled in the hills and with trees surrounding the fields. By Saturday morning the site was fully dressed and people relaxed on the fields in glorious sunshine. However there was much activity in the Rugby Club as Wales fought a tough battle with Australia in the Rugby World cup.

Saturday evening was a quiet affair with race brief and pasta party ahead of a good nights sleep in preparation for the big day.

Sunday morning dawned a little overcast but still dry and a few degrees cooler with light winds – perfect racing conditions. Up on lake side the wind put a small chop on the water but nothing that was going to hold the field back and at just past 10 am the call came through that the many marshals and safety personnel were in place and the 2007 championship got under way.

A more detailed report will come later on the specifics of the race but here is a general outline and a photo board of proceedings.

Swim was slightly short about 1300m with age group athlete     coming out first in 14:10. (The athletes savoured this bit as it is the only flat bit of the course!) The pros were hot on his heals and he was passed in transition as the race gathered momentum into the challenging bike course.

The bike is technical and contains some lung-busting climbs, tricky descents and some sections where bikes need to be carried cycle cross style. Shortly after the huge climb there is a short 400m rocky scramble named Impossible Hill which no one had completed. Belgium Athlete Jim Thijs was determined to prove that wrong and was the only athlete to make it to the top – Well done Jim, the hill has been renamed Jim's Hill in honour of your achievement.

      
What wasn't publiscised was that Impossible Hill had a baby brother who still retains his crown, as nobody managed to ride it. This is now called Impossible Hill, it is a lot shorter and has a horrible little pitch half way up which catches everybody out. The organisers had predicted a much slower ride but the pros killed this bike course – they absolutely flew 01:11:00 was the quickest time by Sam Gardner with the other pros all within a few minutes of this. The age group guys and girls while being able to ride the course were absolutely amazed at the speed the pros achieved.

Onto the run. After the tough bike and much preparation for that section of the course the athletes thought they would get round the run ok – after all its only a run! Many were surprised by the treat in store when after about a k of nice river bank trail through the trees they had to ford the river, use a knotted rope to scramble up the bank and the route went up and up using small trails and forest roads – and then just as they thought they couldn’t go up any more there it was – Impossible Hill for a second time – pained expressions, fatigue and cramp literally brought people to their knees. Luckily the friendly marshals and photographer was there to catch it all and offer support. Once cresting yet another climb through a forest clearing the route started to flatten out and descend. Just as people were getting back some rhythm they found a quick descent and then were met by marshals directing them up another ridiculously steep climb – much friendly banter was hearld at the encouraging marshals as set about the next challenge. Not long and they were back under Impossible Hill once more, but this time with the satisfaction they were on the way down. The descent has some lovely narrow trails and a steep final descent  before exiting the forest which many decided to roll rather than run. The finish line was close as people tried to muster every last bit of energy to pick up speed and maintain or even close a few places, past the camp site between the posts and down the final straight to be greeted by the commentator and marshals and congratulations of their fellow athletes. The camaraderie between the athletes was evident all round the course as they all fought to reach the finish line and complete the demanding course.

The host rugby club had never seen such an event and could not believe what the athletes had achieved. They loved the event and are very keen to host us again having learned by the experience and met the people involved. They got involved, helped with marshalling and asked peoples opinions on what they could do to develop their club alongside the event as it grows. The Pro athletes were asked to sign an event shirt at registration that was presented to the prize winner from the local Library that had run a competition to design an XTERRA shirt ahead of the event.

The European champions earned their prizes pros and age groupers alike. Many age groupers were over the moon at their qualification to Maui to experience the World Championships. People experienced XTERRA style racing for the first time and are bitten by the bug. Friendly events, great camaraderie, fantastic scenery and trails all make it a worth while experience. As one emailed feedback said ‘This has all the makings of a cult event’

The race organisers, Team Unlimited and local government officials were very pleased that this event had gone to plan after last years terrible storm. It was a tight budget but we can now build XTERRA UK for a long term future. We already have plans to extend the swim to a two lake affair taking out the gravel road transition and extend the cycle by taking out the long forest road climb past the quarry and replace it with a natural single track climb which emerges by Wood-Henge. This year was restricted to a Sunday event due to a local clash but in future they will be Saturday events followed by the customary post event bash and awards ceremony.

There are race reports on www.Tri247.com  www.driventotri.com The Big Kahuna Daves report is below. 220 Triathlon will run a three page spread in their next issue.

Local photographic company www.sportysnaps.com have loaded at least 1000 photos on their site which are all reasonably priced starting from £3 – get that memorable photo of Impossible Hill! – sorry, Jim's Hill.

To download race information pack Click here

To download course map click here