Maclean, Machacova Win XTERRA Blackhawk

By Todd Scott, XTERRA Rep

Saturday's rains had come and gone leaving behind ideal trail conditions for Michigan's West Coast.  Sunday was nothing but sunshine and ideal racing temperatures.

As the Camp Pendalouan Bell rang to start the swim, it was Greg Mueller jumping to an early Phelps-like lead.  One spectator commented that he actually had a rooster tail behind him.  And after getting back to the beach and into transition, Mueller had nearly a minute lead over second place.

And among the women, Melissa Hughes opened an even larger lead over the field heading into transition.  However, that lead would soon dry up as Katerina MacHacova put the hammer down on the bike.  MacHacova posted the sixth fastest bike split - over ten minutes faster than second place women.

In a similar fashion, David MacLean smoked the field with the fastest split of the day and moved into the lead, while Mueller hung on to second.  MacLean also had the fastest 10K run to cruise to an overall victory.  Mike Murray (3rd) had the second fastest run but it wasn't quite enough to catch Mueller (2nd).

Mindy Houser, who had the second fastest swim and bike, was the quickest female runner.  While she closed much of the gap to MacHacova, she couldn't close it all.  The final results show MacHacova in first, Houser in second, and Hughes in third.

XTERRA Spirit Award:  This award was presented to Daniel Fell.  Fell had major surgery in 2002 and suffered numerous medical complications in the years that followed.  This was the first time back to racing since 2002 and he said it felt great to come back.

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