Silver for Kabush and Vine

Canmore, Alberta’s Danelle Kabush (2:36:16) and Victoria’s Mike Vine (2:16:29) both finished second at the XTERRA Mountain Cup at the Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, Colorado. France’s Nico Lebrun (2:15:06) and USA’s Shonny Vanlandingham (2:30:14) beat them for the top spot on the podium. Lebrun, the 2005 XTERRA World Champion, came out of the water nearly three minutes behind the lead pack, but quickly took command of the race with the best bike split of the day (1:14:45). Vanlandingham, the most successful rider in NORBA mountain biking history, biked five minutes better than the rest of the field, essentially cementing her race win. Kabush used the fastest run split (41:08) to finish in second. “I had a pretty good bike, caught Susan Williams about half way through and I think got into T2 with a four and half minute lead. Then my run was just 36 seconds slower than Danelle’s and, considering how great a runner she is, I’m real pleased with that,” said Vanlandingham. The course, designed by legendary adventure racer Mike Kloser, featured more than 4,000-feet of climbing and combined a one mile swim in Avon’s Nottingham Lake with a 16 mile mountain bike and six mile trail run.