Allen, Erbenova win XTERRA Germany

(Zittau, Germany) - Ben Allen of Australia and Helena Erbenova of the Czech Republic captured the 13th edition of the XTERRA Germany Championship in Zittau on Saturday.

It’s the second week in a row those two have been on the top step. Last week they both won the XTERRA Czech Championship.

The men’s race came down to an epic stride-for-stride battle between Allen and Bradley Weiss from South Africa. Here is how Allen explained it…

“Rough swim for me this time round. I exited fourth behind Christian Otto, Jens Roth & Roger Serrano. I’m normally the one being chased, but this time I was doing the chasing. I caught Roger on the first long climb in the forest and then a couple of minutes later Otto. Roth was further away setting a solid pace. Francois (Carloni) caught me at the top of the long climb and we worked together to hunt down Roth. Before reaching Roth, Brad (Weiss) joined our pursuit and the three of us managed to drop Roth on the last steep climb. Me, Francois & Weiss came into T2 altogether but I managed to have a speedy transition and exit first just ahead of the other guys. Brad ran up alongside me and we ran shoulder to shoulder, breathing down each other’s necks, nether one of us giving each other an inch! Brad surged a couple of times and I surged a couple each times, neither of us wanted to say die! It was like Mark Allen and Dave Scott battling it out in Kona! Brad put in one last surge about 1km from the finish line on the flat section and I was able to respond, before I attacked on the last hill with 500m to go and the elastic band broke for Brad. It was a race neither of us will forget for a long time, both laying it on the line and giving 100%. It was an epic battle and although I was first across the line. I believe after that race we are both worthy winners! Let’s do it again sometime Brad, pleasure going toe to toe with you!”

Weiss was equally enthusiastic of the experience, saying “Wild race. So stoked I could be a part of that one! Went right down to the line. Ben and I were very evenly matched, I gave him everything I had. He showed his class and stayed composed right till the end. Learnt a few lessons out there from a seasoned athlete. Couple Germans took an early lead in the swim but after the main climb on the bike it was just myself Ben and Carloni left up front. We shared the lead and kept the pace honest up front. Once onto the run Ben took an early lead with a slick T2 but after a k or so I closed the gap. We ran toe to toe from them on. I made a few efforts to get away but Ben hung tough and made his sprint for the line count. Loved every minute out there. I will be back next year to try and climb one step higher.”

Roger Serrano ran his way into third, his seventh top three finish on the European Tour this season, with Carloni right behind in fourth and the German Jens Roth in fifth.

In the women’s race Erbenova was more than three minutes behind Jacqui Slack, two minutes back of Brigitta Poor, and one-minute back of Carina Wasle coming out of the water but erased all those deficits with the fastest bike and run splits of the day.

It’s the fourth win in a row on the XTERRA European Tour for Erbenova and her sixth title this year.

Slack held on for second, with Brigitta Poor in third, Carina Wasle in fourth, and Lenka Cibulkova rounding out the top five.

XTERRA’s own Dave Nicholas was on-site and provided this report.

It was a wild west shootout in the mens race on Saturday. Ben Allen and Bradley Weiss ran shoulder to shoulder almost the entire run course. Neither man wanted to follow so they just stayed side by side. “It reminded me of those great Mark Allen and Dave Scott races at Ironman years ago” said an exhausted Ben. “I would try to go and Brad would come back; then he would go and I had to come back.” In the end it appeared as if the South African stumbled just a bit going up the last climb only 200m from the finish. Allen never looked back. While the record book says 10 seconds, once Brad could see he would not catch the Aussie he tried to back down just a hair. Both men collapsed after the finish tape. Exhausted but understanding they had just put on an epic show that we will remember for a long, long time.

Meanwhile, back on the course, Francois Carloni was feeling his inflamed knee and slowing. Just behind, The Beard Roger Serrano “it felt like needles sticking in my heel. Then I saw Francois and said Run Roger, Run”. The Spaniard did catch the Frenchman for 3rd place and the European Series Championship for 2015.

The day was wonderful. A bit hot for sure, but slightly less than the previous days. Literally thousands of spectators lined the water line, some standing waist deep to catch a glance. Europeans love their sport and with a huge and highly regarded pro field that included Germany’s best off roaders – they were everywhere on the course.

I was surprised to see Ben Allen back in 4th after the first swim lap and several seconds behind Roger Serrano who was in 3rd. Germany’s Jens Roth and Christian Otto led the swim. “Big Theo Blignaught caught me in the water and nearly swam over me” grinned Ben.

Out on the bike, Francois Carloni was flying. He caught all the leaders just after the fabulous Johannesstein party field and XTERRA downhill. Jens Roth was still leading at this point about half way through the bike. Over the top of the hill came Carloni with Ben Allen on his tail and they soon passed the quick German. Carloni’s ride on this section was magic. Not far behind was Bradley Weiss and he was also coming strong. Carloni told me “the last few K’s are flat and I wanted to save some energy for the run. I knew my knee is not good so I had to save some strength”. This meant that Carloni, Allen and Weiss all coming into T2 together. Ben had a great T2 and led everyone heading out but Weiss quickly caught him and the battle was joined. The rest is in the history books.

Jacqui Slack had a nice race last week in the Czech Republic and was happy with her finish. “I was tired from all the travel and it was all I could expect” she said. “I had a good week of training and felt much stronger today”. Indeed she had the fastest swim and came out of T2 with the lead. Hungarian Brigitta Poor has joined the elite this year with a win and podiums wherever she goes. Her biking is getting strong enough that she was catching Jacqui and came out of T2 in second. Helena Erbenova and Carina Wasle were together at the end of the bike, but the Czech woman simply does not understand conserving anything and passed into 3rd quickly. “Oof, I was not feeling great about anything today” she smiled while walking through the recovery area with her daughter. I remarked that her feeling good or bad – it still ends up with a win. She smiled again, looked at me and said nothing. A very classy lady.

Jacqui was not giving in at all. “Sometimes when Helena passes me I just kind of say There She goes” said the Brit. “Today I had something left and went after her on that last, flat gravel road. I gained some but it was not enough”. Jacqui fell short by just 33 seconds. Brigitta took 3rd place and our diminutive Austrian Carina Wasle came 4th.

Last year this course was a mudbath for the ITU cross championships. Today it was clear and dry and fast. The Johannesstein downhill was a slippery slope that not even the best could ride flat out last year. This year the top men were hitting 45kph and flying over the bumps.

The awards, big screen recap of the day and after party were the best. The compound was alive all weekend with a huge retail expo area and lots of choices to eat and drink. The night went very late with an excellent local band followed by the well known Irish Rockers “Hogan”.

Sunday are kids races and more family entertainment. This weekend is simply great with something for everyone. XTERRA is alive and very well in Germany.

Complete Results / Photos available soon at https://www.facebook.com/xterraeurope

Men
Pl	Name	Time
1	Ben Allen, AUS	2:25:36
2	Brad Weiss, RSA	2:25:37
3	Roger Serrano, ESP	2:28:28
4	Francois Carloni, FRA	2:28:55
5	Jens Roth, GER	2:29:50
6	Tomak Kubek, SVK	2:31:04
7	Nicolas Fernandez, FRA	2:32:53
8	Pavel Andreev, RUS	2:33:11
9	Christian Otto, GER	2:33:36
10	Albert Soley, ESP	2:34:10
Also: Jan Pyott (41), Markus Benesch (37), Veit Honle (34), Vaclav Holub (31), Theo Blignaut (28), Dominik Wychera, Krzysztof Kokot, Martial Schmidt

Women
Pl	Name	Time
1	Helena Erbenova, CZE	2:51:58
2	Jacqui Slack, GBR	2:52:24
3	Brigitta Poor, HUN	2:53:27
4	Carina Wasle, AUT	2:54:36
5	Lenka Cibulkova, CZE	3:06:24
6	Corinna Choun, AUT	3:15:20
7	Emilie Lefur, FRA	3:57:49

ALL-TIME XTERRA GERMANY ELITE CHAMPIONS

Year	Location	Men’s	Women’s
2015	Zittau	Ben Allen	Helena Erbenova
2014	Zittau	Ruben Ruzafa	Kathrin Mueller
2013	Zittau	Ruben Ruzafa	Jacqui Slack
2012	Zittau	Asa Shaw	Helena Erbenova
2011	Zittau	Olivier Marceau	Marion Lorblanchet
2010	Zittau	Cancelled due to flooding
2009	Zittau	Franky Batelier	Renata Bucher
2008	Zittau	Ronny Dietz	Renata Bucher
2007	Titisee	Franky Batelier	Carina Wasle
2006	Titisee	Sebastian Kienle	Carina Wasle
2005	Titisee	Nicolas Lebrun	Carina Wasle
2004	Titisee	Olivier Marceau	Katrin Helmcke
2003	Titisee	Nicolas Lebrun	Jamie Whitmore
2002	Titisee	Ronny Dietz	Ute Schaefer

XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR UPDATE

Just one wild weekend remains on the XTERRA European Tour, Aug. 29/30, with XTERRA Denmark on Saturday and the XTERRA European Championship in England on Sunday. Erbenova is the 2015 XTERRA European Champion and barring any unforseen circumstances Roger Serrano will win the men’s title.

2015 XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR POINT STANDINGS

After 10 - 8.15.15

Men

Name, NAT

TOTAL

MLT

POR

ESP

GRE

SUI

FRA

SWE

ITA

CZE

GER

Roger Serrano, ESP

526

x82

DNS

Francois Carloni, FRA

497

DNS

Ruben Ruzafa, ESP

375

DNS

100

DNS

100

DNS

100

DNS

Jan Pyott, SUI

347

DNS

x41

Albert Soley, ESP

264

DNS

Kris Coddens, BEL

232

DNS

Jan Kubicek, CZE

222

DNS

Henry Sleight, GBR

210

DNS

Tomas Kubek, SVK

208

DNS

Ben Allen, AUS

200

DNS

100

Markus Benesch, AUT

186

DNS

Nicolas Fernandez, FRA

180

DNS

Bradley Weiss, RSA

180

DNS

DNF

Arthur Forissier, FRA

175

DNS

100

DNS

Veit Hönle, GER

165

DNS

Yeray Luxem, BEL

136

DNS

DNF

DNS

Martial Schmidt, FRA

132

DNS

DNP

Fabrizio Bartoli, ITA

118

DNS

DNF

DNS

Pavel Andreev, RUS

106

DNS

Xavier Riart, ESP

105

DNS

DNF

DNS

Tim Van Daele, BEL

103

DNS

James Walker, GBR

102

DNS

Jens Roth, GER

102

DNS

DNF

DNS

Malte Plappert, GER

100

DNS

Fabien Combaluzier, FRA

DNS

Vaclav Holub, CZE

DNS

Sam Osborne, NZL

DNS

Jim Thijs, BEL

DNS

Michael Szymoniuk, AUT

DNS

Lars Van der Eerden, NED

DNP

DNS

Gonzalo Bernal, ESP

DNS

Damien Guillemet, FRA

DNS

DNF

DNS

Brice Daubord, FRA

DNS

Ruben Salmeron, ESP

DNS

Rory Downie, GBR

DNP

DNS

Damien Derobert, FRA

DNS

Lubos Truhlar, CZE

DNS

Llewellyn Holmes, GBR

DNS

Tomas Jurkovic, SVK

DNS

Lars Erik Fricke, GER

DNS

Jose Borrino, ESP

DNS

Tomas Jiranek, CZE

DNS

Fabio Guidelli, ITA

DNS

Clement Briere, FRA

DNS

DNF

DNS

Hector Guerra, ESP

DNS

DNF

DNS

Christian Otto, GER

DNS

Juan Gracia, ESP

DNS

Florian Luquet, FRA

DNS

Jan Francke, CZE

DNS

Christopher Schwab, AUT

DNS

DNF

DNS

Dominique Fernando, ESP

DNS

Antonello Pallotta, ITA

DNS

Juan Marti, ESP

DNS

Marc Pschebizin, GER

DNS

Marco Spadaccia, ITA

DNS

Grigoris Souvatzoglou, GRE

DNS

Carlos Martinez, ESP

DNS

Pavel Jindra, CZE

DNS

Sergio Espejo, ESP

DNS

Dr. Felix Schumann, GER

DNS

DNF

DNS

Javier Oliver, ESP

DNS

Sebastian Veith, GER

DNS

Theo Blignaut, RSA

DNS

DNF

Arthur Serrieres, FRA

DNS

DNF

DNS

Nicolas Corentin, BEL

DNS

Matt Dewis, GBR

DNS

Simone Calamai, ITA

DNS

Rob Woestenborghs, BEL

DNS

Jon Heasman, GBR

DNS

Krzysztof Kokot, POL

DNS

Peter Lehmann, GER

DNS

Dominik Wychera, AUT

DNS

DNP

Wom

Name, NAT

TOTAL

MLT

POR

ESP

GRE

SUI

FRA

SWE

ITA

CZE

GER

Helena Erbenova, CZE

617

DNS

100

x82

x90

100

Brigitta Poor, HUN

555

x63

x61

DNS

Carina Wasle, AUT

469

DNS

100

DNF

Louise Fox, GBR

340

DNS

Jessica Roberts, GBR

259

DNF

DNS

Sandra Koblemueller, AUT

211

DNS

Karin Hansen, SUI

197

DNS

DNF

DNS

Kathrin Mueller, GER

175

DNS

100

DNS

Jacqui Slack, GBR

172

DNS

Lenka Cibulkova, CZE

168

DNS

Morgane Riou, FRA

156

DNS

Myriam Guillot, FRA

151

DNS

Elisabetta Curridori, ITA

138

DNS

Maud Golsteyn, NED

136

DNS

Coralie Redelsperger, FRA

DNS

Renata Bucher, SUI

DNS

Olga Parfinenko, RUS

DNS

Verena Eisenbarth, GER

DNS

Corinna Choun, AUT

DNS

Ladina Buss, SUI

DNS

Becci Kaltenmeier, GER

DNS

Emilie Lefur, FRA

DNS

Sabina Rzepka, POL

DNS

Elke Innerebner, ITA

DNS

Celine Augueux, FRA

DNS

Genziana Cenni, ITA

DNS

Sofia Brites, POR

DNS

Deniz Dimaki, GRE

DNS

Danica Spiteri, MLT

DNS

XTERRA European Tour Points Rules Document

2015 XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS

The XTERRA Germany Championship was the 31st of 40 events where the fastest amateur athletes from around the world qualify for the 20th annual XTERRA World Championship at Kapalua, Maui on Nov. 1.

DATE	WORLD TOUR EVENT (Pro Winners)
8-Feb	XTERRA Philippines Championship (Brad Weiss / Flora Duffy)
22-Feb	XTERRA South Africa Championship (Stuart Marais / Flora Duffy)
7-Mar	XTERRA Motatapu (Dougal Allan / Jess Simson & Simone Maier)
28-Mar	XTERRA Saipan Championship (Ben Allen / Jacqui Slack)
29-Mar	XTERRA Malta (Nicolas Fernandez / Brigitta Poor)
29-Mar	XTERRA Costa Rica (Rom Akerson / Lesley Paterson)
11-Apr	XTERRA Guam Championship (Ben Allen / Carina Wasle)
11-Apr	XTERRA New Zealand Championship (Braden Currie / Suzie Snyder)
18-Apr	XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship (Braden Currie / Flora Duffy)
25-Apr	XTERRA West Championship (Francisco Serrano / Lesley Paterson)
25-Apr	XTERRA Tahiti (Brice Daubord / Sarah Backler)
26-Apr	XTERRA Reunion (Brad Weiss / Carla Van Huyssteen)
2-May	XTERRA Asian Tour Championship (Brad Weiss / Myriam Guillot)
10-May	XTERRA Brazil (Diogo Malagon / Sabrina Gobbo)
16-May	XTERRA Southeast Championship (Braden Currie / Lesley Paterson)
16-May	XTERRA Portugal (Ruben Ruzafa / Kathrin Mueller)
7-Jun	XTERRA Spain Championship (Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova)
14-Jun	XTERRA East Championship (Josiah Middaugh / Suzie Snyder)
20-Jun	XTERRA Greece (Kris Coddens / Helena Erbenova)
27-Jun	XTERRA Switzerland Championship (Arthur Forissier / Carina Wasle)
27-Jun	XTERRA Mine over Matter (Karsten Madsen / Heather Pady)
4-Jul	XTERRA Freedom Fest (Sergio Florian / Laurel Dudley)
5-Jul	XTERRA Victoria (Brent McMahon / Zoe Dawson)
5-Jul	XTERRA France Championship (Ruben Ruzafa / Kathrin Mueller)
11-Jul	XTERRA Sweden (Sam Osborne / Helena Erbenova)
18-Jul	XTERRA Mountain Championship (Josiah Middaugh / Flora Duffy)
25-Jul	XTERRA Parry Sound (Sean Bechtel / Heather Pady)
26-Jul	XTERRA Italy Championship (Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova)
8-Aug	XTERRA Mexico (Josiah Middaugh / Fabiola Corona)
8-Aug	XTERRA Czech Championship (Ben Allen / Helena Erbenova)
15-Aug	XTERRA Germany Championship (Ben Allen / Helena Erbenova)
16-Aug	XTERRA Canmore, Alberta, Canada!
22-Aug	XTERRA Adventure Fest Maui, Kapalua, HI, USA =
23-Aug	XTERRA Quebec – Quebec City, Quebec, Canada!
29-Aug	XTERRA Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada!
29-Aug	XTERRA Denmark, Tilsvilde*
29-Aug	XTERRA Japan, Hokkaido+ (start 2016 Asian Tour)
30-Aug	XTERRA England / European Championship, Vachery Estate, Surrey*
13-Sep	XTERRA Woolastook, Upper Kingsclear, New Brunswick, Canada
19-Sep	XTERRA USA Championship, Ogden/Snowbasin, Utah, USA#
1-Nov	XTERRA World Championship, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

* European Tour / + Asian Tour / # America Tour / ! Canada Series / = Hawaii qualifiers