XTERRA Uwharrie Post Race Report

By Todd Scott, XTERRA Rep

In just its second year, XTERRA Uwharrie is quickly become one of the more popular stops on the XTERRA America Tour. 

The race is held in the stunning Uwharrie National Forest just outside of Albemarle, North Carolina.  And the trails here are an absolute blast to ride and run - one major reason why race participation jumped up over last year.

And thankfully the weather forecasters were wrong.  Race day was sunny, warm, and without a rain cloud in sight.

The XTERRA swim started with two 500 meter laps around a scenic lake course.  Alex Modestou grabbed an early lead with second-placed Alicia Markey just over a minute back.  Though the water temperatures were in the high 60s, neither wore wetsuits -- it certainly didn't slow them down.

Once on the bike, Mark Rudder from Dunwood, Georgia worked his way to the front.  Modesto hung on for second while Justin Hoblet sat in third.

Among the women, Cynthia Fowler of Landrum, South Carolina grabbed a commanding lead with the fastest women's bike split - fastest by nearly 10 minutes!  Rene O'Connor also made up time on the bike to just squeak past Markey.

The run didn't affect the top three spots in the women's race.  Again, Fowler set the fastest pace on foot to take the overall spot.

Back in the men's category, Rudder kept his lead with the day's best run split.  Hoblet remained in second, while Sean Fey edged past Modesto on the run for third.

As the racers finished up, the common comment was "What great trails!"   That's a big pat on the back to all the Uwharrie-area volunteers that help keep these trails open, in good shape, and are working to make them even better in the future.

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