Adrian Barrons Xterra Regional Championship Report

Xterra Regional Championships 5/23/10

Waco, TX

1600m Swim/16 mile MTB/5.3 mile run

32^nd overall/2^nd Age Group

2:35

This is one of those race reports that you put off. I wish I could use last years race report for this one (it was waaaaay better). Look at me already trying to defend myself. Sure I have reasons and excuses for a not so stellar performance but I won’t bore you.

The swim was a deep water start. The pro’s got a bit of a head start from the mass of age groupers. The course was an elongated triangle. The race director tried to give us as much advantage as he could with not having to swim against the current on the long side of the triangle, however his efforts were counter struck with winds that actually made white caps. Needless to say the swim was a bit more challenging than expected. I am never one of the top guys out of the water, but I am “water fit”. This swim was taxing.

On to T1 I can see that a few of my rivals are already gone and out of sight. The bike course was very different than most of the other courses in Texas. For those of you that have not ever ridden Cameron Park I strongly suggest it. It is not a fast course, and not as techy. In that there are no big drops or rock gardens or even a single rocky step up. It does have a ton of climbing. All very short and with good traction. They just keep coming one after another. Lots of twists and turns and a very thick canopy so little to no sun. I past several riders in the first 6 miles which is always good, but it also made me realize how bad my swim was. I felt pretty good on the bike and finished very strong heading into T2.

Leaving T2 I was with about 4 other guys. With in 1/10 of a mile we had to literally climb a stair case cut out of a cliff side. I would say about 90 feet bottom to top. No two steps were the same in height. Any where from 5 inches to 30 inches in height. A couple I had to use my hands to step up and over. This was obviously tough just coming off the bike. At the top we had a bit of flat before we ducted back in the woods for the rest of the run. I was truly hoping for a bit more flat on the run then we had on the bike……..My hopes and wishes were wrong, dead wrong. I don’t do well with runners behind me and was going to strong that early. By the 2^nd climb on the run reality was starting to set in. The 4 that I had left T2 with were now gone and I was starting to fade. As my mind and body continued to falter a pro comes wizzing by and says “you got a 35 year old about 45 sec. back”. Well you think I would have dug deep and responded. Well you and my body would be wrong. When he past I stayed with him for a while but simply could not hang on. I would like to take this opportunity to say that this pass would end a 3 year age group winning streak in Xterra not including Nats and Worlds. So I was clearly disappointed with myself and the day.

Though the numbers were not what I wanted for the day I still secured my World Qualifying slot as well as a spot on the US off road team in 2011 for the World Championships in Spain.

Thanks go out to Coaches Brandon and Amy Marsh, Red Licorice Events and Performance Bikes for all of their never ending support.