Mr. and Mrs. Smith Win XTERRA Crested Butte

By Circ Toepel, XTERRA Rep

Crested Butte has XTERRA's highest transition and locals Brian and Jenny Smith used their extra blood cells to win both pro divisions.  Along with the altitude comes spectacular wildflowers-lots of them!  The late snowmelt helped the flowers peak just in time for this years' event which started at Grant Lake just above 9,000'.   The lake was exceptionally clear and clean this year thanks to a winter dredging, cleaning and general overhaul.

Wetsuits were required for the chilly dip into Grant's 65 degree water but you expect that at an alpine lake.  The 1.1k was over quickly for some, like Melanie  McQuaid who exited the water in 15:04 or Mike Melley who emerged in 12:53.  Apparently good swimmers eat lots of M&Ms. 

Out on the 21k bike is where Crested Butte really rocks!  The half mile of road gave competitors a quick chance to get their legs moving before hitting some of the coolest single-track in the universe!  CB has it all, rocks, roots, tight turns, big drops, river crossings and lung busting climbs that top out just below heaven at 9,775'.  Even if you are not a wildflower child, their brilliance was hard to miss.   Brian Smith couldn't have been taking in too much scenery as he turned in a 1:04:21 bike split.  Cody Waite had the second fastest bike with a 1:05:42 and Branden Rakita followed up with a 1:07:38.  As you might expect, Jenny Smith's bike was blazingly fast-as in 1:09:41.  The next fastest female was Shonny Vanlandingham who turned in a 1:11:09.   Melanie was suffering a little from only 3 days at altitude and showed up into T2 next with a 1:14:49 bike split.  Ed Oliver had the fastest amateur bike split of the day at 1:09:30, combined with his swim that brought him into T2 just behind Mike Melley.  Jill Sorenson was not first out of the water but she was definitely first into T2 with her 1:24:42 bike split.

The 9k run at CB is just as spectacular and grueling as the bike.  It follows much of the same course before dropping off for a steep rocky descent down the Whetstone Trail and hitting the road.  The final ½ mile trail around the lake is a spectator friendly cap to an exciting day.  Watching Brian Smith literally fly around the lake was inspirational.  He looked like the CB police might be chasing him.   Brian smoked the run in 35:42 giving him a finish time of 1:58:33.  2nd place went to Branden Rakita from Manitou Springs whose dad has done this event almost all of the 6 years it has been in existence.  Branden finished in 2:00:47.  Veteran Cody Waite finished 3rd among the pros in 2:01:22.  Jenny Smith led the pro women to the finish line in 2:12:15.  Jenny found positive stimulation and motivation from her local race saying it is a challenging course and keeps your interest.  Shonny V needed just a little more real estate on the run but made a substantial effort to narrow the gap down to under a minute.  She crossed the finish line at 2:13:09.   Melanie took 3rd in 2:19:15.  Honorable mention has to go to Kate Chapman from Breckenridge who finished just out of the money in 6th place with a very respectable finish time of 2:32:29.  Kate was racing in her very first pro race and finished faster than the amateur women, a feat not always accomplished by first time pros.  Jill Sorensen also from Breckenridge was first amateur woman and finished right behind Kate at 2:32:47.  Training partners maybe?  Cary Kinross-Wright finished 2nd in 2:36:28 and Toni Axelrod from Vail rounded out the top 3 in 2:41:12.  Mike Melley followed up his sensational swim with a solid performance on the bike and run for 1st overall amateur male finishing in 2:12:38.  Ed Oliver was reeling Mike in on the bike but in the end finished with 2:13:17.  Jason Michalak who trains with Ed finished 3rd 38 seconds back in 2:13:55.

The awards ceremony was just as impressive as the course itself.  Ashley and Tina go over the top to bring the athletes some of the best prizes ever.  This is the second year in a row I have seen the pro purse raised during the race from additional sponsors.  This year it went up to $3000.  No wonder this event sells out early every year.  The awards ended with a very special spirit award.  The Tune Up Bike Shop donated a full suspension Lightspeed frame.  There were quite a few tears as one of our XTERRA ambassadors Roger Villmow was awarded this incredible prize.  Roger, who is a very talented racer in his division, is one of the most selfless, generous individuals on the XTERRA planet.  He leads countless pre-rides, spends many hours helping race directors clean up trash and other jobs.  At this race Roger saw a competitor with a flat and threw him his entire bag of tools and tube so he could continue.  Shortly thereafter, Roger himself flatted and walked his bike to the finish.  Many thanks to the Tune Up Bike Shop for such a generous prize. We also can't forget Crested Butte Bank, Eagle Resort Development, and all the other sponsors and volunteers who made this event happen.  A special thanks also to the entire Skyland community for allowing us to swim in their lake and ride and run around their awe inspiring million dollar homes.  The website says "Amazing Course" it could not be stated any better.

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