Conrad Stoltz and Kathrin Mueller captured the XTERRA Denmark Championship in “Viking weather” at the beach and forest of Tisvilde.
The ominous gray skies opened up just as the race started at 1pm. The cold North Sea, somewhere around 17 degrees Celsius (63 Fahrenheit), was just the start of the challenge Mother Nature dished out for competitors. To follow was slick roots, soft sand, biting trees, treacherous, relentlessly steep hills, pouring rain and slinging mud that made for blinding conditions.
Nobody handled better than the “Caveman” – seven-time World Champ Conrad Stoltz who won his second major in as many weeks (it was XTERRA England last Sunday). By midway through the two-lap bike course he was up by almost two minutes and by transition it was more than four.
Interestingly, the last split he got was still 1:40 (from after the first lap on the bike) so he figured he better lay down the hammer early on the run jest he might get chased down by the younger guns behind him. As such, he made even more time after the first lap on the run, until he heard he was five minutes for the good.
“I got off the bike and heard I had 1:45 on three people, and thought I’m gonna have to run hard because who knows how fast guys like Ben are going to run. I didn’t know I had that time,” explained Stoltz, who collected his unprecedented 51st career XTERRA Championship win.
He shared his thoughts after the race, saying “During the swim the rain came pouring down, which changed everything. It made a relatively easy course quite technical, which made it fun for me. Today was much more technical and slippery than yesterday. I crashed one time and I could hear my neck go “crraaacck”. I just clipped a pedal because you can’t see with all the water and mud in your eyes. It was just a little bump in the trail and my pedal caught it and I went flying and I could hear my neck wrench. And the run course was very challenging, long sections sliding down my backside, holding on to trees. This was my first time here and I really enjoyed it, and would love to come back and support the sport here. People here are passionate about the outdoors and it’s great to be a part of this event. It’s really true to the XTERRA tradition where you can combine a great country and experience with exceptional racing. I think the race was fantastic. Muddy and cold and wet, you really have to thank the volunteers for braving these conditions as well. Hopefully it grows from strength to strength and XTERRA builds roots here in the Viking country.”
Behind Stoltz was a marvelous duel for 2nd, with Dan Hugo (7 World Tour wins this season), Ben Allen (2 World Tour wins this year and 7 last) and Francois Carloni who captured his first major in Greece this year.
Allen led out of the water, followed by Hugo and then Stoltz. About 6K into the bike Stoltz passed Allen, then Hugo caught up and those two rode together until Carloni went flying by during the second lap and took a one-minute lead on Allen and Hugo heading into the run. Ultimately both Allen and Hugo caught and passed Carloni (as did Jan Pyott to take fourth down the finish chute) with Allen finishing runner-up.
In the women’s race Kathrin Mueller put an exclamation point on her XTERRA European Tour Championship with her sixth win of the season against the best in the business as the top five women in Europe were in the race.
She came out of the water and rode the first lap with Jacqui Slack, then grabbed on to the wheel of two-time Euro Tour champ Helena Erbenova on the second lap. The two took off on the sandy run at the same time but Mueller sprinted out, forced a small gap, and never looked back.
“Yesterday I really loved this course in dry conditions, but today it was too technical for me. I had difficulties on the bike,” said Mueller. ” The run was fantastic though, like a monkey course. I sprinted the first 2K to try to get away from Helena and it worked.”
When asked what her secret to success has been this season, Mueller replied, “I don’t know, it’s a secret to me too. I’m happy in my life, I have really good conditions to train at home in Freiburg, the atmosphere with my family and friends is really good and I think the secret is just being happy and relaxed and enjoying racing.”
Mueller will now focus her attention on good preparation for Maui and the ultimate goal of winning an XTERRA World Championship.
Erbenova finished second on the day and second in the XTERRA European Tour after standing on the top step in 2012 and 2013. Jacqui Slack had a magnificent day in third, Carina Wasle was fourth and Renata Bucher fifth. In the final Tour standings, it went Mueller-Erbenova-Wasle-Slack-Bucher.
The day was defined by athletes with the Viking spirit – resilient and steadfast in their determination to conquer this course where most would rather curl up in bed with a book or a movie.
“It’s Viking weather, we’re Viking people, this is how we do it,” explained race announcer and Danish cycling legend Torbjørn Sindballe.