Sunday’s XTERRA Trail Run World Championship

Sunday’s XTERRA Trail Run World Championship

The 2013 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship will feature defending world champions, former world champions, a new national champ, former national champs, and numerous other runners with international experience. It will be the deepest field of title contenders in the six-year history of the event.

This year’s race is scheduled for this Sunday, November 24, and it will once again be staged at the picturesque Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii. More than 2,000 runners from around the world will gather for the race on the ranch.

Three Canadian women are among the favourites in the impressive field of elite runners:

Lucy Smith from Sidney, is the defending champion who is returning to Kualoa Ranch for the third consecutive year. She placed second overall in 2011, then took the championship last year by an impressive two-minute margin. She was 45 when she won the race last year, becoming the oldest runner – male or female – to win the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship.

Meggan Franks from Canada will be making her debut at Kualoa Ranch, almost by accident. She found out her father was taking a vacation in Hawaii, and she and other members of the family decided to join in. She was the first overall female at the 2013 Canadian Mountain & Trail Running Championships in June. She was also one of four women selected to the 2013 Canadian Mountain Running Team that participated in the 2013 World Mountain Running Championships at Poland.

Samantha McGlone from Arizona (attending medical school there) is best known as one of the world’s best triathletes during the decade of the 2000s, and that alone makes her a serious contender in any endurance event. She represented Canada in the triathlon at the 2004 Olympics and was the women’s runner-up at the 2007 Ironman World Championship triathlon. This will be her first appearance at the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship, though she did place first overall at the XTERRA Freedom Fest Trail Run 10K at Kualoa Ranch earlier this year.

The elite runners will be competing for $10,000 in prize money, including $2,000 each to the men’s and women’s winners.

However, the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship is a race for all runners, and numerous others will be competing for age-group titles. Every male and female age-group champion from the 21K championship course is considered an XTERRA Trail Run World Champion.

Returning age-group world champs from 2012 include: Jakob Dewald (men 15-19), Polina Babkina (women 20-24), Willie Schefer (men 20-24), Joseph Gray (men 25-29), Lucy Smith (women 45-49), Keith Rieger (men 45-49), Raymond Brust (men 50-54), Nozomi Wade (women 55-59), Edward Bugarin (men 60-64), Lee Saltonstall (women 65-69), Jon Lyon (men 65-69), and Roger Kemppel (men 70-74).

There is no qualifying process to enter the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship, so the field will include a unique mix of experienced and inexperienced XTERRA Trail Run competitors. The event also serves as an introductory trail run event for runners, as there are 5K and 10K races for those who may not feel ready for the half-marathon course.

2012 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship Video Recap

https://vimeo.com/68660028

XTERRA World Championship slots to help the Philippines

Sunrise Events, organizers of the XTERRA Philippines Championship, is hosting an online auction to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda rebuild the affected areas in Tacloban, Bohol, and Cebu.

Among the items up for bid are two at-large entries into the 2014 XTERRA World Championship triathlon at Kapalua, Maui. The auction is live now and will last one week.

Other items in the auction include a Robbie McEwen Tour de France jersey, Ben Allen, Jacqui Slack, and Belinda Granger race kits, Luke McKenzie’s kit and Trucker Hat (signed), and a custom-made “I Care for the Philippines” jersey. More items will be posted shortly.

“We wanted to find a way to assist in the rebuilding efforts once the immediate needs for food and basic shelter are addressed,” said Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, Chairman of Sunrise Events, Inc. “We intend to partner with Gawad Kalinga and build a small village and classrooms that will be sustainable over the long haul. We hope you will consider helping in this worthwhile and needed endeavor.”

The XTERRA Philippines Championship race itself, scheduled for March 15, 2014 at Liloan, Cebu, will open for registration on December 1 at www.xterraphil.com.

XTERRA World Championship at-large registration opens December 2

At-large registration for the 2014 XTERRA World Championship will open December 2, 2013 at 7am Hawaii Time (9am PST, 12pm EST, 6pm in Europe).

Last year’s slots sold-out in a matter of minutes. One sure fire way to get a slot is to put in the best bid in the auction to raise funds for the Philippines (see above story).

Interested athletes should go to www.xterramaui.com for their chance to claim one of 100 at-large entries into the 19th annual XTERRA World Championship off-road triathlon at the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua, Maui to be held Oct. 26, 2014.