Nielsen, Snyder Win XTERRA Onteora

By Jen Marsh

After 52 Points Races and 4 Regional Championships, it came down to one last race to shake out the last few invitations to the National Championships and a couple Regional Champion Jerseys.  Labor Day weekend in Livingston Manor New York at the Onteora Scout Camp was host to the 2nd Annual XTERRA Onteora - an exciting end of the season event not to be missed!  Many athletes looking for a few more points came out of the woodwork this past weekend and put on an amazing show for the spectators - it was GREAT racing!

It was rainy the days leading up to the race which slicked down the trail a bit and added a bit of mud to sections of it - this would later prove to actually make the course faster for most as compared to last year - but disastrous for others who would have their days end with DNF's due to mechanical issues.

Start time was 11am this year - late enough for folks from Long Island and elsewhere to drive in that morning if they wanted to.  By then the dew had melted off, the sun had come out, the rain was long gone, and it was a beautiful day!  The swim was a 2-lap course this year and coming out of it first overall was long time XTERRAist Suzie Snyder (26, Wallingford, CT)  She led a pack out of the water in 12:43 that included Paul Stapley (38, Montreal, Canada) in 12:44, Ken Robins ( 46, Cutchogue, NY) in 12:52, and Nathan Chubet (36, Plantsville, CT) in 12:55.  Way to lead the men Suzie!  Last year's female top three Joan Lynch (43, Cos Cob, CT) was second women out of the water in 14:29 and Erin Nielsen (27, North Haverhill, NH) was third in 15:37.

Next up - the muddy, fast, chain eating, 2-lap bike course!  On lap one, Ken Robins had a huge lead over the rest of the field - but as he entered into T2 we noticed that his pedal had broken off of his bike and was stuck onto the bottom of his shoe!  He still arrived first though (bike split - 1:05:49) into transition followed closely by Paul Stapley (1:06:25), and Kristoffer Nielsen (30, North Haverhill, NH) was a close third with the fastest bike split of the day in 1:04:31.  The three of them were all about a minute apart entering and exiting transition.  Would Ken maintain his lead on the run?  Could Paul chase him down?  Could Kristoffer chase BOTH of them down?

After a stellar swim performance, Suzie kept it up with a 1:14:05 bike split - 7 minutes ahead of the next female.  Erin Nielsen was second again with a 1:21:21 and Pegine Ladrido (39, Saranac Lake, NY) came in third with a 1:24:26.  It looks like there would be no stopping Suzie today - could she keep it all going on the run?

The run is absolutely gorgeous and winds you around the lake, through ferns, up a killer hill, and pops you out of the woods for a 30 yard dash to the finish.  Posting the best split of the day - 23:41 and finishing up with a 1:44:25 - 6 minutes faster than the 2007 Overall Time - it was Kristoffer Nielsen who used his amazing running speed to leave Paul and Ken in his dust!  Congrats!  Paul Stapley had a 25:32 (3rd fastest) run split and finished in 1:46:04 to take second place.  Ken Robins held on for 3rd place with a 1:48:40.  Bob Horn (32, Belmar, NJ) posted the 2nd fastest run split of the day in 25:26 which put him in 4th place overall in 1:48:59.  Great job guys!

Erin Nielsen actually posted the best run split of the day in 27:26 and that would be good enough to keep her in 2nd place overall in2:06:14.  But it was Suzie Snyder who would post a 28L53 run split and take the ladies title in 1:57:36 - 13 minutes faster than last year's female champion.  Pegine Ladrido kept up the speed on the run with a 31:26 split to finish 3rd overall in 2:15:34.  Awesome day ladies!

Folks hanging around the finish line got to witness so many cool finishes - including our favorite between 15 year-olds Casey Gilboy and Damian Lavander who had an all out sprint to the finish with Casey taking it one second ahead of Damian in 2:20:38 - very exciting!

There was tons of delicious food post race - ribs, pasta, potato salad, coleslaw, bagels - great awards, tons of prizes (shoes, wetsuits, and cameras!) Gatorade chugging contests, push-up contests, and one final jump in the lake for a wetsuits for the year!  We will be thinking up new games over the winter for prizes for next year - so stay on your toes!  Thanks to JP and Eddie of Tri an Dui It Multisport for putting on this great event, thanks to the Onteora Scout Camp, to all the athletes, volunteers, and spectators for helping make this such an amazing day! See you all in Tahoe!

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