Stuart Marais and Flora Duffy took home the titles at the 12th annual TOTALSPORTS XTERRA South Africa Championship in front of a packed house at the magnificent Grabouw Country Club on Sunday.
Both Marais and Duffy grinded out convincing wins to claim the lions’ share of the new and improved R249,000 prize purse but the day’s story lines ran much deeper.
The drama started early with a magical African sunrise lighting up the skyline in bright orange and yellow coupled with word that four-time XTERRA World Champion Conrad “the Caveman” Stoltz had pulled from the line-up due to a nasty cold.
With defending champion Dan Hugo also on the sidelines, missing his first showcase event since retiring in the off-season, the race was without not only the two biggest XTERRA stars in South Africa but perhaps the two biggest forces in off-road triathlon over the last decade.
In their place Mother Nature – the constant in all of XTERRA – showed up in full strength as if to express her displeasure with Stoltz and Hugo for not racing. An unseasonable cold front complete with blustery winds rolled in overnight and dropped the water temps in the small lake by more than two degrees, turning a non-wetsuit swim into a wetsuit optional affair and sending unprepared elites scrambling to find some rubber to swim in.
Eventual winner Stuart Marias was the most notable of those affected but was saved by his mate Niel Swanepoel.
“In the buildup to the event I didn’t know it would be a wetsuit event and didn’t even pack my wetsuit in so when they announced it would be a wetsuit swim I was caught very off-guard. Fortunately my mate, who finished second in his age-group today, relinquished his suit just so he could put me on the front foot today,” explained an appreciative Marais to the crowd at awarding.
Marias took full advantage and exited the water just 30-seconds or so behind the leaders then took off like a man possessed passing Bradley Weiss, Roger Serrano, and Theo Blignaut in the first 5K of the bike and built an insurmountable lead from there that was never truly challenged.
“Stuart was just one-notch up,” said Weiss, the winner of the XTERRA Philippines Championship earlier this month who came in 2nd today. “He was in control the whole day, and he still had a few gears left that he could turn on for the run if he needed.”
In the three previous SA Championship races Marais had finished 2nd twice (last year and 2012) and fourth in 2013. He said winning it all and joining a cast of local legends like Stoltz, Hugo, and Richard Murray is unforgettable.
“I spent a lot of time out here on this course getting to know every little rock and turn and bit of sand and I suppose that makes the difference between winning and losing. I did my homework and the plan worked out pretty good,” said Marais.
Men
1 Stuart Marais 2:32:47
2 Bradley Weiss 2:35:42
3 Roger Serrano 2:37:20
4 Theo Blignaut 2:37:35
5 Antoine Van Heerden 2:38:34
In the women’s race the reigning XTERRA World Champion Flora Duffy was simply unstoppable. She led everybody – men included – out of the water then rode and ran seamlessly to take the tape in 10th place overall with nearly 20 minutes to spare.
“Everything seemed to work out today. It’s a very technical, challenging bike course so my biggest fear was flatting or having a mechanical so I was concentrating on keeping it smooth in the single track,” said Duffy, who has won nine of the 10 XTERRA Championships she has raced in since capturing the SA title last February.
“Fabulous day, this is my favorite XTERRA on the circuit. It’s the best organized, the biggest, it’s just amazing and I’m so glad I could come here and defend my title. Last year this race kind of kicked off my year that culminated in winning Maui so to come back here as a World Champion was very special.”
Runner-up Mari Rabie, Olympian and XTERRA SA Champion in 2005 and 2010, also had a very special day but for much different reasons.
“I had myocarditis chronic heart disease for seven months and I got cleared three weeks ago now, so just happy to be back racing and I haven’t ridden technical in more than a year so my main aim was just to stay on the bike.” said Rabie, who was 3rd at XTERRA Worlds in 2012. “It was a tough couple months, you know, when a doctor tells you that you can’t do what you want to do because you might die. I think you appreciate this so much more when it’s taken away from you.”
Carina Wasle, a two-time SA Champ (2009 and 2011), said she didn’t have her best day but still managed to finish third overall. Wasle has made South Africa her perennial training grounds at this time of year.
Women
1 Flora Duffy 2:45:27
2 Mari Rabie 3:04:06
3 Carina Wasle 3:06:38
4 Nicolette Griffioen 3:08:22
5 Sandra Koblmueller 3:08:43