Nelson, Lieb Win Quarq XTERRA Iron Creek

By Circ Toepel, XTERRA Rep

Possibly the most scenic lake on the tour, Iron Creek held another wildly successful event.  With new modifications, the 5 mile, 2 lap run became even more spectator friendly with the addition of a run around transition.  The bike and run course are true dirt adventures adhering to ICORT's motto "asphalt is for wimps"!

The new morning start this year got competitors into the clear, clean 72 degree waters of Iron Creek Lake for a 2 lap, 1k swim.  Volker Riedlinger got wet for 16 minutes and 25 seconds followed by Kirk Nelson and Wade Wheatlake.   Stephanie Alcivar came out next in 17:58 with Becky Batizy just 5 seconds behind.  The Riedlinger family came all the way from Minnesota and they can swim because Lisa exited the water in 3rd place at 19:14.

The 22k bike course at Iron Creek Lake is almost entirely single track as well as having no pavement and is as fine as it gets.  The climbs are long enough to put competitors into suffer mode but they are broken by rhythmic, winding trails through aspen and pine trees interspersed with meadows and a few meandering cows.  The occasional wet cow pie needs to be avoided at all costs!  To add another element of character, riders need to negotiate a somewhat technical, loose, rocky downhill after reaching the summit of Old Baldy.  Then there are even more large rocks to maneuver around and a log crossing mid-trail that forced many racers off their bikes.

Last year's winner, Spencer Powlison showed that he is in fine form again this year by tearing up the bike course in 1:03:27.  Fred Hankinson had the next best split at 1:05:34 and Kirk Nelson rolled in with a 1:06:19.  The four women who came out of the lake before Lisa Lieb could not match her pace on the bike.  Lisa entered T2 with a commanding lead thanks to her 1:20:53 bike time.  Training with Shonny V. in Durango maybe?  Lisa Riedlinger's 1:27:29 bike split brought her into transition with a solid hold on the 2nd spot ahead of Becky Batizy 1:30:44.   In spite of working a full time job AND helping me remodel our kitchen AND (apparently) training, 57 year old Cindi Toepel posted a bike split of 1:32:26!  Cindi went on to have the 4th fastest run split and a top 7 finish.  I swear I am not feeding her any more Wheaties than I normally do.

Kirk Nelson came into T2 just slightly ahead of Spencer and proceeded to put the hammer down to fire off the fastest run, a 35:06 which brought him to the finish line in 1:58:27.  Spencer ran 36:17 to finish 2nd in 2:00:20.  Fred Hankinson brought the amateurs to the line with a 2:05:36.  Luke Jay came in 2nd at 2:06:19 and Erick Schlang took the last podium spot in 2:07:11.  

Lisa Lieb finished the girls off with a 46:23 run to take the top spot in 2:29:11.  Lisa Riedlinger held her 2nd place position by running in 49:43 and finished in 2:36:26.  Petra Hartman did some hard charging with her 47:23 run and took 3rd away from Stephanie Alcivar by coming across the line in 2:40:52.

The awards were a bit different this year.  There was a honey shortage and several comments last year from competitors wanting hardware prompted the race directors to distribute humungous nuts.  Now that's what I call real hardware!  These oversized threaded chunks of hexagonal steel were anodized gold, silver and bronze.  Lots of XTERRA gear was given away as usual and race director Jim Meyer threatened to give away one of his innovative new Quarq power meters at next years race.  Many thanks to Jerry Dunn and all the volunteers as well as the other RD, Jason Thorman who did an impeccable job, as usual, marking both bike and run courses so it was next to impossible to get lost.   The word is getting out about this gem of a course because one competitor travelled all the way from Boston.  No doubt he also heard about the grass fed beef available at the campground.  Those are the same cattle we dodge on course so they must be pretty fresh.

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