A Truly International Race

While Americans Max King (Oregon) and Morgan Arritola (Idaho) took top honors at the 2011 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship in Hawaii on December 4, there was a significant influx of international runners this year.

Most notable, eight runners from outside of the United States earned age-group world titles: five from Canada, two New Zealand, and one from the Czech Republic. Another age-group world champion came in from Japan, but still lists Hawaii as a home address.

The second-place finishers overall for both the men and women were international entries: Petr Pechek from the Czech Republic placed second to King, and Lucy Smith of Canada placed second to Arritola.

"There are a lot of trail runners here in British Columbia (Canada), so it was nice to see a lot of them doing well and adding this race to their winter vacations," said Susan Reynolds, a Canadian who won the women's 45-49 age group. "I was not expecting to see so many fellow Canadians, but glad to see us so well represented."

New Zealand also brought a large contingent of runners to Kualoa Ranch, and many of them were champions of their respective age groups in New Zealand.

Nick Hirschfeld is one of the top elite runners from New Zealand. He placed 14th overall and first in the men's 35-39 age group.

"Trail running is booming in New Zealand," he said. "We tend to have more technically challenging courses than Kualoa Ranch. I've told a friend he would have won the 20-24 age group and so now he is keen to race next year. I'm probably somewhere between 5th to 10th best trail runner in New Zealand, so there are guys who could challenge for top three overall."

All told, runners from 13 countries and 40 different states participated in the 2011 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship. A record field of more than 2,000 runners registered this year.

The youngest age-group champion was 14-year-old Jarrell Hibler. It was his third consecutive title in the male 10-14 age division.  His first two came while he was living in Hawaii; he moved with his family to Japan in 2011, but still made the trip back "home" to run at Kualoa Ranch.

"Japan is getting cold now, so adjusting to the warm humid Hawaii weather was a challenge," Hibler said. "Even with this, it was great getting to come back to Hawaii. I love this course, it is a lot of fun."

Hibler said he did his training on an American Army base in Japan, and his familiarity with the course at Kualoa Ranch helped his cause. He even correctly noted after the race that this year's course was longer than in past years.

"Most of it was the same, but this year it felt like there were more hills and I felt the difference in length," he said. "It was longer this year."

Hibler still lists his hometown as Honolulu, so he was one of nine runners from Hawaii to win an age-group world championship in 2011. Other states to have runners win world titles were California with two, and Arizona with one.

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