Weston, Spooner Prevail at Camp Eagle

Matty Weston and Claudia Spooner both turned a comfortable run into a victory at the XTERRA Camp Eagle Trail Run on Sunday, April 3, at Rocksprings, Texas.

Weston was the overall winner, completing the 10-mile course in 1 hour, 26 minutes, 40 seconds. Spooner was fourth overall and the first female with a time of 1:38:19.

"The weather was great with overcast skies blocking out the South Texas sun and a howling wind helping with the humidity," said Weston, 36.

"The trails were spectacular! Some technical footing, lots of loose rock and non-stop up and down."

Weston and Spooner were both in the lead pack midway through the course, and said the pace was friendly and comfortable at that point of the race. They even managed to startle some deer that were on the course.

"It was a comfortable run until one of the guys made a move around mile 6," said Weston, who is from Austin, Texas. "I would say I finally caught up at mile 8. I kind of lacked a strategy when I got up front so I just pushed it until I saw signs of civilization and knew the finish was close."

John Craft of Hamilton, Texas, placed second in 1:28:36, and Miles Sellers, also from Hamilton, was third in 1:33:16.

Spooner set the pace for the first half of the race, but said she fell behind the top men during the technical sections in the second half of the course.

"I stumbled and went down; bruised my hip and cut my arm, but got up and started running again -- that was about six miles in," she said. 

"After that, I decided I would have to back off.  I was stumbling a lot and knew my legs were just tired and not clearing some of the rocks and roots."

Still, Spooner accomplished her goal of winning the female division, and using the race as a warm-up for bigger races in the coming weeks. This weekend, she will compete in the Galveston Half-Ironman; on April 16, she will run in the 13-mile XTERRA Waco Trail Run.

After completing the 10-mile course at Camp Eagle, she went back on the course to run for another hour. "This was a great run for me, especially because of the humidity," said Spooner, 40. "I had another hour to run for training purposes after I was done so this was a really great zone for me to stay in.  I tried to get the guys to run some more with me after the race … they were done."

The Camp Eagle Trail Run was the second of five races in the 2011 XTERRA Texas Trail Run Series. The next event is the XTERRA Waco Trail Run, scheduled for April 16 at Cameron Park, Waco, Texas.

For more information on races in the Texas Series, please visit www.racerevolutions.com or www.xterratrailrun.com.

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