Another excellent Xterra America Tour event – the Xterra Southeast Championship in Pelham, AL at Oak Mountain State Park. This is a killer park for all things outdoors. Great trails as well as lots of road bikers, swimmers, and campers. It even has a BMX course that is open to anyone to try out.
May 20th, 2017: Weather was ok this year. No rain, but it was very hot once the sun was up. The race was wetsuit legal for amateurs, and the course was virtually identical to last year. Sprint racers had a slightly different bike course with a climb on pavement to start and mostly fast trail action to T2.
Josiah Middaugh defended his title here again and looked strong throughout the run. Karsten Madsen made up time on the run to pull off a second place finish with zero energy to spare, and Francisco Serrano hung on to a great third place finish. These guys are fast.
Xterra Championship Race:
1.5k swim / 30k mountain bike / 10k run
Results
Xterra Sprint Race:
750m swim / 13k mountain bike / 5k run
Results
Xterra Xticer:
200m swim / 10k mountain bike / 2k run
Results
And, don’t forget you can get your hair cut by Paul Mitchell. Sweet. Saved me a trip to go get a haircut – But I still felt bad for them cutting my lake-watered, sweaty hair!
Josiah Middaugh finishing first run lap
Francisco completing first lap in second place
Karsten on a fast run
Karsten takes second with nothing left
Francisco with a strong podium finish