XTERRA Racers Conquer “the Beast” at Beaver Creek Resort

July 21, 2021

XTERRA Beaver Creek, aka

Sam Osborne and Samantha Kingsford won the 12th XTERRA Beaver Creek off-road triathlon elite titles on a beautiful blue-sky day in Avon, Colorado on Saturday, July 17, 2021, with winning times of 2:05:29 and 2:34:00, respectively.

It’s the 16th career XTERRA World Tour win for Osborne, the seventh for Kingsford, and the third victory of 2021 for both.  The couple from New Zealand also shared the top step in April at their home country race, XTERRA Rotorua, and XTERRA Oak Mountain in Alabama in May.

XTERRA Beaver Creek, aka “The Beast” boasts the highest elevation of any major on the XTERRA World Tour. It combines a one-mile swim in the 67-degree waters of Nottingham Lake located at 7,400-feet elevation; with a 15-mile mountain bike that climbed 3,500-feet into the thin air of the Rockies topping out at 9,400-feet; and finished with a grueling six-mile trail run featuring another 1,000+ feet of climbing through the aspens.

In the men’s race the star-studded elite field put on an amazing display of endurance and grit. Eric Lagerstrom blitzed the swim in 18:12, coming out of the water nearly a full minute ahead of Branden Rakita, Osborne, Timothy Winslow, Elliot Bach, and Brad Zoller.  Sam Long and Josiah Middaugh were two minutes back from Lagerstrom, and roughly one-minute 20 seconds behind Osborne.

Osborne pulled away from the group then charged past Lagerstrom in the first couple miles of the bike to take the lead.  Long and Middaugh did the same and chased Osborne up the mountain together in second and third place.  From there, the race boiled down to a three-man sprint to the top of the climb as each racer said getting to the top first was the key to success.

Osborne won that battle and the war, with Long finishing second and Middaugh third.

“To perform at this altitude, I’m so stoked, I didn’t think I could actually do it,” said Osborne, who spent two weeks training at similar elevation in Winter Park leading into the race and said that was a game changer.  “If you have any chance to take on Josiah on his home turf, you have to climatize up here, otherwise you just can’t compete with the guy.”

Read full recap at xterraplanet.com  // Full Men’s Results

In the women’s elite race Kingsford led from wire-to-wire with the fastest swim and run times, and the second-best bike split behind only Suzie Snyder.

“Definitely a redemption race after the disaster I had here in 2019,” said Kingsford. “Coming out two weeks before helped us, but it didn’t make it any easier.  I think the key was pacing.  I paced myself on the swim, rode my own race on the bike because you can come undone so quickly up here, and then the run was just brutal.”

Amanda Felder was second out of the water and held the lead until 2019 winner Suzie Snyder caught her at the top of the first climb about mile four.  From there Snyder pulled away and finished second (with the same time finish time she posted two years ago) and Felder was steady to round out the top three.

Hemming, Scholl win XTERRA Beaver Creek 18K

On Sunday, July 18, 2021, Eli Hemming from Kiowa, Colorado and Tabor Scholl from Louisville, CO captured the XTERRA Beaver Creek 18-kilometer trail race in Avon, CO with winning times of 1:08:55 and 1:23:33, respectively.

Hemming, one of America’s top professional triathletes, showed off his running speed in grand fashion this morning. He took the lead from the start and ran a 6:10 pace up four 500+ foot climbs and finished more than six minutes ahead of runner-up Ashton Grissom and Jake Link in third.

“Today was super fun. I haven’t done much trail racing and it was amazing, and really nice to get a little variety in there,” said Hemming.  “Those hills are tough though!”

Scholl led from start to finish just like Hemming, her fiance, and placed 5th overall.

“That was hard, but I really enjoyed it,” said Scholl, who was covered in dirt and scrapes and just a little bit of blood.  “Yeah, I took a really nice superman on the trail, on the singletrack on the backside.

Ellie Webb from Denver and Stacey Hendry from Arvada finished second and third for the women in the 18K.  Today’s XTERRA Beaver Creek 18K age group division winners were awarded a complimentary entry into the 2021 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship 21K to be held December 4, 2021, in Kapalua, Maui.

Find complete results (and who got those Maui entries) in the full results here.

Chane, Mairhofer win XTERRA Italy Lake Scanno

In Europe this weekend Maxim Chane and Sandra Mairhofer captured the eighth XTERRA Italy Lake Scanno off-road triathlon elite titles on a rainy day in the mountains of Abruzzo on Sunday, July 18, 2021.

It’s the third XTERRA World Tour win for Chane, who got his first at the 2020 XTERRA Nouvelle-Aquitaine off-road triathlon and second two weeks ago at XTERRA France in Xonrupt.  It’s the first big win for Mairhofer.

Full the recap and results at xterraplanet.com.

About XTERRA

XTERRA® is a global lifestyle brand and off-road race series. What started in 1996 as the world’s first off-road triathlon in Maui, Hawaii, is now an endurance sports lifestyle with a racing presence in over 30 countries worldwide and expanding. XTERRA® cultivates a passionate and dedicated community, celebrated by intrepid triathletes, trail runners and outdoor adventurists around the globe.  Learn more at www.xterraplanet.com.