In each of the last two seasons here in the desert Middaugh had come close to defeating everyone's chief rival - 4x XTERRA World Champ Conrad Stoltz - only to fall seconds short (by 32 seconds in '09 and 39 seconds last year).

This year it looked like deja-vu all over again with Stoltz taking a seemingly commanding one-minute, 40 second lead into the run, however, Middaugh - fresh off a winter spent crushing the competition on snowshoes - put together a ridiculously fast run and caught Stoltz on the last big climb at about the four-mile mark and never looked back.

"Josiah is crazy. It doesn't matter if it's flat, downhill, or uphill he runs the same speed - fast," said Stoltz after the race.

"I thought I had it but this course is very hilly, and he is such a great hill runner that I needed a bigger lead. I was walking up that last big climb and he just came flying past."

Middaugh had the fastest run of the day, a 37:59 to Stoltz' 40:47, and said he ran as hard as he could the entire time.

"I've been snowshoe racing all winter and we run up stuff steeper than that hill so I really tried to peg it, get my heart rate going and just go for it," said Middaugh, who won the North American Snowshoe Championship and USAT Winter Triathlon National Championship in the off-season.

"I knew the climbing was done by mile four so I had to attack the run. Conrad crushed the bike, and put more time on me than I had hoped for, so I had to ran as hard as I could on every climb to try and make it back early."

The outcome could have been different had Stoltz' not gone off-course on the bike and lost a minute or more heading in the wrong direction.

"It's really my fault. I pre-rode the course and new it well but ended up following some age groupers and we got off course," said Stoltz. "It probably added a minute to a minute-and-a-half on the bike. I still thought I had it but in the end it was too much. But all credit to Josiah, he had a great race, especially considering he came right out of winter. He's got good form, it's going to make for a great summer of racing."

While Stoltz had the fastest bike split, and Middaugh the fastest run, Branden Rakita - who was the top American at XTERRA Worlds last year - had the best swim and a solid bike and run to finish third, tying his career-best (he was also third at the XTERRA Canada Championship last year).

"It was really tight on the bike today, with a lot of guys hanging around up front like Branden and Seth Wealing so I was worried they'd sneak up on the run," said Middaugh (pictured).

Former XTERRA World Champion Nico Lebrun was more than four minutes back out of the swim but made up that time with the third quickest bike and fourth-best run to propel himself into fourth place.

Chris Stehula, last year's USAT collegiate national champ, had his best-ever XTERRA showing to round out the podium, while Jim Thijs from Belgium finished sixth and Wealing seventh to round out the money spots.

"This course was more technical than I thought it would be," said Stoltz of the sandy, rocky, moon-like surface.

 "I rode it on Tuesday and it was hard-packed and I thought it would be so easy, but with all the riders churning it up over the week it really got loose and more technical than you'd think, so anybody that rode well today should be proud." 

TOP PRO MEN
Pl Name Age Hometown Time Pts Purse
1 Josiah Middaugh 32 Vail, Colorado 2:13:39 100 $1,800
2 Conrad Stoltz 37 Stellenbosch, South Africa 2:14:38 90 $1,250
3 Branden Rakita 30 Manitou Springs, Colorado 2:17:46 82 $800
4 Nicolas Lebrun 38 Digne, France 2:19:16 75 $500
5 Chris Stehula 26 San Luis Obispo, California 2:20:13 69 $400
6 Jim Thijs 30 Huldenberg, Belgium 2:22:03 63 $300
7 Seth Wealing 32 Boulder, Colorado 2:22:30 58 $200
8 Trevor Glavin 31 San Diego, California 2:22:51 53

9 Cody Waite 32 Lakewood, Colorado 2:22:53 49

10 Brian Smith 35 Gunnison, Colorado 2:23:17 45

Also: Craig Evans (41), Shiloh Mielke (37), Adam Wirth (34), Brad Zoller (31), Jason Michalak (28), Karsten Madsen, Chris Jackson, Chris Ganter, Will Kelsay, Patrick Valentine, Damian Gonzalez

McQUAID STARTS 2011 ON A HIGH NOTE
It was a tough off-season for long-time XTERRA great Melanie McQuaid having to live with the memories of an 11th place finish at XTERRA Worlds, a race she dedicated so much time and energy into. Nothing like today, then, to start the 2011 season where she'd like to finish it - on the top step.

"Nice to erase the bad memory of Worlds," said McQuaid (pictured), who's won World's three times. "Unfortunately you're only as good as your last race so I had to deal with that, but this is much better and anytime you can win one of these it's a pretty special day."

Fellow countrywoman Christine Jeffrey provided perhaps the biggest competition to McQuaid on this day. Jeffrey came out of the water with the top men and put together a strong bike that had McQuaid chasing her for most of the first 10 miles.

"Christine is riding really well and I didn't catch her until the end of the first lap," said McQuaid, who came out of the water third behind Jeffrey and XTERRA newcomer Kelsey Withrow (who later pulled with a mechanical).

"Once I past Christine it was hard to tell what was going on behind me because this course is really fast moving, almost criterium style, so you couldn't tell where anybody was until you came up on them."

While most expected reigning XTERRA World Champ Shonny Vanlandingham (pictured) to make her move on the bike, she was so cold coming out of the water that she never really warmed up.

"That's the coldest water I've ever been in. I was hypothermic, came out of the water in a total daze and just couldn't get it together," said Vanlandingham, whose swim split was 29:46, five minutes off McQuaid and more than eight minutes back of Jeffrey.

The water temp was 62-degrees earlier in the week, but one-and-all said it was a lot colder than that today. "It was probably in the high 50's," said Branden Rakita, and both he and Vanlandingham said they couldn't even feel their toes until the second mile on the run.

Vanlandingham actually had the second-best run split, behind only the speedy Danelle Kabush, but couldn't bridge a five-plus minute gap and was happy with second place.

Jeffrey ran past mountain bike expert Kelley Cullen, who was racing in her first off-road tri, to finish in third with Cullen in fourth. Kabush rounded out the podium, with Emma Garrard and Suzie Snyder placing sixth and seventh, and Jessica Noyola eighth in her first race as a pro.

TOP PRO WOMEN
Pl Name Age Hometown Time Pts Purse
1 Melanie McQuaid 37 Victoria, B.C., Canada 2:32:29 100 $1,800
2 Shonny Vanlandingham 41 Durango, Colorado 2:35:50 90 $1,250
3 Christine Jeffrey 38 Guelph, Ontario, Canada 2:37:02 82 $800
4 Kelley Cullen 30 New Castle, Colorado 2:38:56 75 $500
5 Danelle Kabush 35 Calgary, Alberta, Canada 2:39:06 69 $400
6 Emma Garrard 29 Park City, Utah 2:40:39 63 $300

FISHER, GROSSE WIN AMATEUR RACE

More than 300 racers from 23 states and eight countries took part in today's championship or sport races, which were held at Lake Las Vegas for the third consecutive year. Nick Fisher from Ogden, Utah (pictured) won the overall amateur race, nearly five minutes ahead of 40-44 World Champ Cal Zaryski from Canada. In the women's race former age-group world champ Keri Grosse won the overall title, with 15-year-old Hannah Rae Finchamp posting the second-best women's amateur time.

Here's a look at all the age group champs:
XTERRA WEST CHAMPS CHAMPIONS (FEMALE AGE GROUP)
Division Name Time Hometown
15 - 19 Hannah Rae Finchamp 3:02:08 Altadena, CA
25 - 29 Erin Beresini 3:17:05 Redondo Beach, CA
30 - 34 Kim Baugh 3:05:05 Colorado Springs, CO
35 - 39 Tamara Donelson 3:09:26 Edwards, CO
40 - 44 Gina Rau 3:08:38 Sandy, UT
45 - 49 Keri Grosse 3:01:20 Leavenworth, WA
50 - 54 Tamara Tabeek 3:06:29 San Diego, CA
55 - 59 Barbara Peterson 3:29:12 Berkeley, CA

XTERRA WEST CHAMPS CHAMPIONS (MALE AGE GROUP)
Division Name Time Hometown
15 - 19 Hunter Tolbert 3:02:53 Heber City, UT
20 - 24 Taylor Seavey 2:42:28 Seward, AK
25 - 29 Nick Fisher 2:29:11 Ogden, UT
30 - 34 Isaac Smead 2:36:54 Reno, NV
35 - 39 Mike Cabigon 2:34:46 Edmonton, AB, Canada
40 - 44 Calvin Zaryski 2:34:00 Calgary, AB, Canada
45 - 49 Todd Gottfried 2:46:38 Valencia, CA
50 - 54 Brent Peacock 2:44:52 Jackson, WY
55 - 59 John Royson 2:58:36 Albany, CA
60 - 64 Ricardo Gonzalez 3:36:11 San Jose, CA
70+ Hans Dieben 4:20:46 Chula Vista, CA
PC Craig Vogtsberger 3:27:44 Highlands Ranch, CO
* TOP AMATEURS

Complete XTERRA West Championship Results. XTERRA Sport race results.
2011 XTERRA U.S. PRO SERIES UNDERWAY
Today's race was the first of six regional championship races in the nationwide XTERRA America Tour that boasts 70 races in 35 states.

April 10 - XTERRA West Championship (Aston MonteLago Village Resort - Lake Las Vegas, NV)
April 17 - XTERRA South Central Championship (Cameron Park - Waco, TX)
May 15 - XTERRA  Pacific Championship (Wilder Ranch State Park - Santa Cruz, CA)
June 22 - XTERRA  Southeast Championship (Oak Mountain State Park - Pelham, AL)
June 12 - XTERRA East Championship (Richmond, VA)
July 16 - XTERRA  Mountain Championship (Beaver Creek Resort - Avon, CO)
Sept. 25 - XTERRA  USA Championship (Ogden/Snowbasin Resort, UT)

The top 15 pros at each event are awarded points based on overall pro finish. Pros count their best five-of-six scores plus the points they get (or don't get) at the XTERRA USA Championship in Utah. Thus, the final point total combines an athletes' best five scores in the first six races, plus the USA Championship race points. He/she with the most points in the end is declared the U.S. Pro Series Champ. The U.S. Series will dish out $143,000 in prize money: $10,500 at each regional, $20,000 at the USA Championship, and $60,000 to the top overall points scorers in the Series.

Next up: Race number two in the Pro Series - the XTERRA South Central Championship in Waco, Texas next Sunday, April 17.

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