The XTERRA World Championship qualifying series schedule heads to the South Island of New Zealand for the XTERRA Motatapu off-road triathlon this Saturday 4 March.
Sponsored by UDC Finance in 2017, the race is entering its sixth year as part of the XTERRA World Tour. As noted by XTERRA, it is by far the longest, combining a 2km swim in Glendhu Bay, Lake Wanaka, a 47km Mountain Bike and 15km mountain run over the historic Miners Trail course.
The amateur winner from each age group will qualify for the XTERRA World Championship in Maui, while the top three elite men and women chase NZ$3,500.
More than just the XTERRA race, Motatapu hosts a full-blown endurance sports festival weekend with more than 3,000 competitors racing in a series of events that include a marathon, an ultra and a mountain bike race.
“As the defending champion, it’s nice to be coming back to the race where I won my first XTERRA,” said the reigning men’s champion Olly Shaw, who finished more than eight minutes ahead of Kieran McPherson with a winning time of 3:51:39 last year.
“This is my fifth-year racing XTERRA Motatapu so I know what to expect and am preparing for a long hard day out there. It’s a brutal course starting with the cold swim in Lake Wanaka, a steady mountain bike, and then finishes with what I would describe as the hardest run on the XTERRA World Tour.”
Last year’s women’s champ, Mary Gray, is also back to defend her title. Julia Grant, a long-distance specialist with several podiums throughout her career, is pegged as her toughest challenger.
