Throughout the Americas and Europe – August is a big month for XTERRA with 24 races in six countries and 13 US states from New Mexico to New York, each with ‘wildly different challenges awaiting competitors.’ In the US, amateur age group racers are chasing points in the America Tour trying to win regional championships and secure their spot at the invite-only USA Championship race.
In Europe it’s the final four – XTERRA Czech, Germany, England and Denmark – on successive weekends awarding invites to the XTERRA World Championship in Maui and determining the European Tour amateur and elite champions. Meanwhile, in Canada, there are races on the West and East Coasts – in Alberta and Quebec, offering Canadian athletes the chance to ‘punch their ticket to Maui.’
And in Mexico, the fiesta got under way last weekend as the XTERRA Mexico Championship race returned to Tapalpa – a gorgeous rural mountain town in Jalisco – for the fourth straight year on Saturday 2 August.
“The race city of Tapalpa is one of Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos (magical village) and is simply a great place,” said XTERRA Managing Director Dave Nicholas. “About 100 miles from Guadalajara, it is a jewel of old Mexico with cobble streets, great shops, covered walkways, and huge centuries-old churches alongside a tree lined central plaza.”
The final four of 11 races in the 2014 XTERRA European Tour will be held on 9 August in Prachatice (Czech Republic), 16 August in Zittau (Germany), 24 August in Cranleigh (England) and 31 August in Tisvilde (Denmark).
This year’s XTERRA Germany Championship, which will be held in Zittau for the sixth straight year, doubles as the fourth annual ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships.
“It’s not a super technical course but it has lots of climbing and I expect both our elites and amateurs to do very well in Zittau,” said Dave Nicholas. “One thing is for sure, is that they’ll have a great time. We have a big team dinner on Thursday before the race at an old fashion German restaurant. It’s a scenic mountain town, and of interest the course traverses three different countries – Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.”
