Xterra Report

The "Caveman" and the "Queen" of XTERRA - Conrad Stoltz and Melanie McQuaid win XTERRA West Cup

Saturday, May 02, 2009

LOEWS LAKE LAS VEGAS RESORT, NEVADA - Defending XTERRA U.S. Pro Series and three-time World Champions Conrad Stoltz and Melanie McQuaid proved once again to be the best in the sport by surviving major challenges from a loaded pro field at the Loews XTERRA West Cup at Lake Las Vegas, Nevada .

A cool desert breeze greeted more than 350 racers to the 68-degree, clean and clear 1.5-kilometer point-to-point swim in Lake Las Vegas. It all started elegantly enough below a row of palm trees on a white sand beach in front of Loews peach-colored Mediterranean style resort.

After the familiar XTERRA cannon blast ushered off the pros in the first wave, swimmers u-turned their way out of the Loews beach cove and around the 8th hole of the Jack Nicklaus’ designed Reflection Bay golf course to another white sand beach a mile away that opened up into the great wide open of the southern Nevada desert.

Christine “Big Fish” Jeffrey beat everyone out of the water – even the top men – in a little over 20 minutes.

The early morning sunshine made it tough to see the buoys, but one racer after another commented on how nice and enjoyable the swim was. The lead pack of men were just moments behind Jeffrey with Evans, Stoltz, Seth Wealing, Branden Rakita, and Dan Hugo all coming out together, with Ironman standout Jasper Blake just a few strokes back.

The bike course is a non-stop barrage of short, steep, one and two-minute climbs followed by quick descents – all on a virtual moonscape highlighted with the various shades of red, sand, and grey that the desert dishes out. There are more than 2,000-feet of climbing on the 30km bike course (1,000+ per lap) and lots of room to pass.

“I had a couple hiccups today,” said Stoltz. “I dropped a chain and had to stop and fix that which probably cost 30 seconds and I took a digger too, and that didn’t cost much time but it sure was humbling. It’s interesting because at first I thought this course would be too easy because it’s not real technical, but then with all the riders churning up the dirt it really made a lot of sections loose and tricky.”