Billed as ‘the Woodstock of XTERRA’ by the organising team, a wild weekend – literally and figuratively – is in store for several hundred XTERRA warriors taking part in Sunday’s XTERRA England Championship race this weekend, on the storied grounds of Vachery Estate in Cranleigh, Surrey.
The XTERRA England Championship is sponsored by XTERRA Wetsuits, PowerBar and Rentalcars.com.
On offer this weekend is the rare chance to swim, ride, run, race, eat, sleep and dance in the serene and seductive ancient wooded countryside of Surrey. On a private estate, huge open fields of grass will welcome hundreds of campers, bands, caterers and racers.
The organisers note that the atmosphere is teeming with excitement and the course itself is simply terrific. It starts with a swim in the strictly private and extraordinarily clean spring-fed Vachery Pond. A special ramp has been built just for the event to allow access for swimmers, officials and water safety.
The bike course – thanks to great efforts led by Surrey-bred XTERRA pro Sam Gardner (the first Brit to win a major XTERRA) – has riders twisting in-and-out and up-and-down the dense tree-lined forests. ‘It’s incredible how much turning is involved, most on perfectly tacky dirt.’
“It’s awesome, I love it,” exclaimed four-time XTERRA World Champion Conrad Stoltz after pre-riding just the first third of the bike course. XTERRA notes that this isexciting to hear coming from a self-proclaimed ‘course snob’.
The run is just as fun, crossing over creeks, hopping over logs. There will certainly be a primal feeling for those chasing, as well as those being chased down by others through the dark, cool forest.
The championship distance combines a 1.5K swim / 30K bike / 11K trail run. There is also a half-distance sprint race option.
Spectators are in for quite a treat as well with both the bike and run courses filtering through the ‘arena’ several times making it quite easy to track the action. They are certain to bear witness to a race worthy of the hype as the field is steeped in both quality and quantity featuring 37 elites representing 13 countries including some of the fastest triathletes from the United Kingdom.
The pros are fighting for their share of the US$15,000 race purse plus XTERRA European Tour points towards the final standings split of US$20,000 to the top performers in the European Series. The XTERRA England Championship is the tenth of 11 events on the European Tour.
For amateur racers there are 41 qualifying spots into the 19th annual XTERRA World Championship in Maui on 26 October 26.
For all involved, win or lose, there will be a big party with live music, drinks, and dancing after the race and loads of competitors are camping overnight so the organisers note that it’s sure to be a festive scene.
TEAM Unlimited, the Hawaii-based owners of the XTERRA brand and worldwide series of off-road triathlon and trail running races, has taken ownership of the XTERRA England Championship event.
TEAM Unlimited is a Hawaii-based television events and marketing company, founded in 1988. It owns and produces XTERRA and in 2014 will offer more than 300 XTERRA off-road triathlon and trail running races in 25+ countries worldwide. In addition, TEAM TV has produced more than 300 adventure television shows resulting in three Emmy’s and 42 Telly Awards for production excellence since 1990.
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