After just missing out on a podium spot at XTERRA Worlds last year, I was in the hunt again for a qualification slot to have another attempt at it. XTERRA Philippines was chosen as the target race for the reason that it was early in the season enough to have a backup plan in case I didn’t succeed in qualifying and to be able to experience a different country and its culture whilst racing.
In the lead up to the event I had been preparing for my Marathon MTB races. The race itself had shifted to the back of my mind until suddenly I found myself running around organising everything the day before departure. I hadn’t raced a triathlon since December and wasn’t really sure where I was at in terms of fitness to endure a 3-4hr tough off road triathlon in the heat. Time will tell I thought to myself and was really looking forward to experiencing another XTERRA race.
As soon as we landed in Manilla I felt at home, there was something about the Philippines that fitted well with me. It’s the presence of organised chaos some friends might argue. The local people had a great sense of humour and were extremely keen to help out in any situations, flashing big smiles everywhere. We flew from Manilla to Cebu and from there a taxi to our hotel. Even though I was pretty tired from the trip I could not take my eyes of the traffic, it seemed like there were no rules, everything and anyone merged in any direction and how this all happened without a collision was really mind blowing!
Nienke and Renata
I had become friendly with pro Renata Bucher while she was training in Australia and it was great to catch up with her in the Philippines. She introduced us to World Champ Lesley Patterson and other pro’s like Sam Gardner, Carina Wassle, Jaqui Slack, Ben Allen, Rory Downey to name a few and before we knew it we were checking out the bike course with these amazing athletes, I tried to hide my excitement and not act like some groupie but I must say I was giggling like a little girl inside!
Out riding the course – lots of climbing!
Being out on the course gave us a taste of what was in store for us for race day, there were chickens to be dodged… dogs… cows… not to mention the locals… we were cheered on like movie stars… this was pretty cool. The course was tough but probably one of the coolest courses I have ever ridden, there was lots of climbing and one nasty lava rock descent which made me nervous about getting a flat, I decided to take those descents easy in the race to prevent that from happening and ride a bit harder on the hills to make up for it. Normally I enjoy really attacking the technical riding but I decided it would be wiser to avoid a puncture.
The XTERRA organisers were amazing and even as age groupers we were treated like pro’s, they were truly going out of their way to make things as easy as possible for us which made the whole trip very unique.
There’s plenty to look at in the Philippines
There was a bit of time spend on shuttles going from the hotels to the event centre and race venue and back but this time was actually well spend chatting to fellow competitors and everyone seemed in a pretty relaxed mood. No one is ever in a hurry in the Philippines so there was no point of getting stressed about it. I was loving every minute of this trip and felt very alive.
In our hotel we met first time XTERRA athlete Stuart, with a back ground in IRONMAN, and 70.3 races he had a little bit an attitude like “how hard can this be, it will be similar as an Olympic Distance tri” and as nervous as he was for the MTB leg of the race I didn’t want to burst his bubble and said he would be fine, I just advised him to take a bit more race fuel with him than for an Olympic Distance triathlon. I was looking forward to catch up with him after the race to hear about his experiences.
Race day arrived and I was much more relaxed than I normally am, I was nervous but also very exited and looking forward to the day ahead. Nutrition seems to be an ongoing problem for me and I had to leave the hotel at 4.30am without breakfast as 40min was not enough for the hotel staff to make a bowl of oatmeal. The night before I had made my sports drink up in my bottles and put them in the fridge – only to leave them behind on race day. After the drama’s I had at Worlds and the Kona Odyssey you’d think I would be able to nail that part of racing!
I was given a bottle by one of the XTERRA organisers (life saver!) and improvised making sports drink with gels and water, at least I did bring my SIS gels and it ended up not being an issue. Maybe I am getting better at this!
The athmosphere at the race venue was amazing, I really love XTERRA’s, they are one of the most buzzing races I have ever experienced and I feel very passionate about the sport. The races are tough, the competitors are fierce and the organisers are super. Even at 5am in the morning locals were up and moving to cheer us all on. I felt exited, I was ready to race.
The swim course was fast and ended up a combination of aqua jogging, dolphin diving, arm wrestling and swimming. I was really focused and swam better than ever before coming out of the water with girls who normally swim faster than me. I transitioned fast and raced very hard for the first half an hour of the bike leg to put myself in the race. I was feeling good and I was loving the course, the screaming locals made me laugh “faster, faster” they screamed as I was racing as hard as I could already!! “Subaru, Subaru” they were cheering, if the sales of Subaru’s skyrockets in the Philippines over the next 12 months I will put my hand up for being responsible for that!!
I cruised through the technical descent and was slightly relieved when I finished the first lap of the bike course without any problems especially after seeing Jaqui Slack and Carina Wassle in trouble at the bottom of the descent.
The 2nd lap was a bit busier with the “lite XTERRA” athletes on the course and more locals to cheer us on, they used whistles like in Downhill races to alarm people of riders coming on any technical or downhill section, I lost a bit of focus due to all this action happening but was feeling awesome and was enjoying it immensely. I really do love racing. My Maxxis Ikon EXO tyres stayed in one piece and I was very happy to have survived the bike course
The run leg was purely brutal, probably one of the most difficult runs I have ever done, other than it being crazy hot, the technical aspect of it and the amount of climbing was horrendous! It took us out in the middle of nowhere and seemed to last forever. Using racing flats were probably not the best runners to use on the hard sharp lava rocks. My bruised toes prove it. Truly XTERRA style I thought to myself whilst backing off my pace to avoid overheating, it was a fine balance. I wanted to go hard but I was extremely hot and dizzy at times. How Lesley Patterson managed to run that course in 43min is really unbelievably mindblowing, what a star. The last 3km’s of the run were like running in a dream, I felt good again and the cheering locals made me want to go faster, I think I was actually smiling whilst little kids were biking beside me. I recall Ray saying to me “what are you smiling for” when I finished. Although I was absolutely stuffed, like at any other XTERRA finish line, I felt more energetic than ever before and this didn’t seem to fade. I put it down to the athmosphere at the finishline, the fact that I won my age group by 50min and ended up 4th overall female. Suddenly I felt I had become part of the XTERRA family and it was a great feeling.
Finally, a rival to watermelon at the end of a Transalp stage…
As usual the stories after any XTERRA race were awesome, Scottish pro Rory Downie said he thought he killed a chicken on the bike and wanted to go back and check it but was worried about what the locals would do to him if he actually had killed it. Lesley Patterson, female winner, with a performance of a lifetime coming 3rd overall including the males, claimed she hit the same chicken as Rory as it was too injured to get out of the way.
Our friend Stuart said it took him 30minutes longer to do the bike course than the 90km’s in a 70.3… he said it was the hardest thing he had ever done including IRONMAN (which us XTERRA lovers always enjoy to hear) but he was hooked and has signed up for XTERRA Malaysia.
If it is at all possible my passion for XTERRA has grown even more after this race and I would advise anyone with even the slightest sense of adventure to give it a go. My experience in the Philippines was definitely one I will always remember, for a short 4 days I was living the dream.
A big thank you to the XTERRA organisers and all the locals for organising such an awesome weekend, to Renata for guiding us along and to Subaru plus our other Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team sponsors for helping me making this all possible.
XTERRA rocks!