Following XTERRA

I have to admit, I’ve never been much of an XTERRA fan. It’s a money issue, more then anything. The triathlon budget I work from is humble, and maintaining my road bike is a challenge at times. So, picking up a mountain bike is out of the question. I wouldn’t have had any complaints two weeks ago. But after witnessing the XTERRA Mountain Championships, I’ve decided put aside some money for an off-road ride.

The XTERRA bug didn’t start “itching” me until last year—the first year of Ogden’s tenure as the XTERRA Mountain Championships. I visited Biker’s Edge, in Kaysville during race week and listened to three-time XTERRA World Champion, Melanie McQuaid speak. She was very insightful and had no problems sharing her “secrets” about racing the Ogden event. Race day came and went as I attended an accounting conference in Rhode Island. Guess where I would rather have been?

A week before this year’s event, XTERRA Marketing Director, Trey Garman invited me to join the race day media caravan. I didn’t hesitate to say “yes.” Believe it or not, I was counting down the days until XTERRA. “I could get into this,” I thought.

Race morning arrives and I join a small crowd of journalists at Snow Basin. I traveled with Trey, along with XTERRA photographer, Rich Cruse, and writers from the Desert News and Inside Triathlon. The SUV was full, but it made for a lot of fun. We were driven to several race checkpoints throughout the morning, where we were able to watch leaders change, and see the dramatics of championship triathlon. I quickly learned that succeeding as an XTERRA professional requires a lot of luck. In less then an hour we witnessed two key players end their days early—Mountain Championship defending champion, Mike Vine and former XTERRA World Champion Conrad Stoltz. Both were the victims of race ending flat tires. Is it unfashionable for professionals to put Slime in their tires?

The aura of the event was something spectacular. It felt like there were at least 1,000 athletes there. The bike racks were packed, and the course was littered with athletes. Later that night I discovered there were less than 500 finishers. I couldn’t help but think about the many Utah events that double the number of participants. I realized that while there are many races in Utah with more triathletes participating, none create the experience of XTERRA. To be honest, it reminded me a lot of Ironman Utah (R.I.P). I doubt XTERRA would consider the “low” attendance a failure.

It’s nice to see a world class event make its way into the state. And, it’s nice to see Utah race directors taking a handful (maybe bucketful) of risks to bring first-class triathlon to Utah. Every triathlon doesn’t need to be an “XTERRA” experience, but it sure is nice to get out and be apart of it every once in a while.

Yours in tri,

Alex McKinley

Editor