Ruzafa, Wasle win XTERRA Reunion

La Saline les Bains (Trou d’eau) – Reunion Island – Ruben Ruzafa from Spain and Carina Wasle of Austria captured the third-annual XTERRA Reunion off-road triathlon elite titles for the second year in a row on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017.

It’s the 24th career XTERRA major win for Ruzafa and the 15th for Wasle.

Ruzafa’s winning time of 2:18:50 was more than two-minutes ahead of Frenchman Brice Daubord and four-minutes in front of 2015 Reunion Champ Bradley Weiss.  “It was a great victory, but it was hard-earned,” posted Ruzafa to his twitter account.

In the women’s race Wasle, who won XTERRA Saipan earlier this year, led from wire-to-wire with the fastest swim, bike, and run times.  “Mission completed,” she exclaimed on her Facebook page. “Easter Sunday fun at XTERRA Reunion! Very happy to win this year again.”

Complete Results / Pictures

In the men’s race Daubord was first out of the water in 20:18 followed closely by Weiss then Ruzafa 38-seconds later.

“It was one of my best swims in recent memory,” said Weiss, who broke his wrist in a mountain bike accident in December. “It’s been a rocky road back to full fitness since my injury and I’m happy with a solid swim after months of hard work. My injuries are now a thing of the past.”

Daubord’s lead didn’t last long as the four-time champion of France’s cross-country triathlon championship suffered a brief mechanical issue, giving way to Ruzafa and Weiss.

From there Ruzafa posted the fastest split of the day in 1:11:23, more than two-minutes quicker than Weiss, and took a lead into the run he would not relinquish.

“Having Ruben in a race always changes the dynamics, including my race tactics, and I was determined to give him everything I had on the bike,” said Weiss.

Ruzafa’s lead grew to about 40-seconds on Weiss after a technical single-track section, and Ruzafa began the run with a two-minute lead.

Daubord had the fastest run split of the day and passed Weiss halfway to the finish to move into second-place. “Brice is a phenomenal runner,” said Weiss. “When I saw him on the run, I knew I was in trouble. He came past me at the 5K mark. I hung in for a while but he broke the elastic first.”

Nico Sterk finished eight-minutes behind Weiss in fourth, with Dominik Wychera in 5th.

As for Wasle, she went relatively unchallenged as South African Vicky Van Der Merwe, who placed 4th at XTERRA South Africa in February, had a tough fall on the bike that made for a long day.

“Yesterday was the deepest I’ve had to dig to finish a race,” she posted to her FB page. “After a bad crash on the bike I ran the last 5km of the bike leg with a fractured wrist. The 10km run after that was purely on adrenaline! Silly mistake but happy just to have finished.”

Truly a gutsy performance for Van Der Merwe, who basically ran nine miles with a broken wrist, “and massive thanks to organizers and doctors for looking after me so well,” she added.

Organizer Yannick Desfarges called the event a huge success.  “Everyone I spoke with said it was a magnificent race with beautiful trails.  We are proud to provide this unique experience in the Indian Ocean, on the island of Reunion we call the ‘intense island!”

More than 500 participants took part in the weekend events, include 180 kids on Saturday.

All-Time XTERRA Reunion Champions

2015 – Bradley Weiss/Carla Van Huyssteen

2016 – Ruben Ruzafa/Carina Wasle

2017 – Ruben Ruzafa/Carina Wasle

XTERRA Reunion Elite Results

Pl Name, NAT Time Swim Bike Run 1 Ruben Ruzafa, ESP 02:18:50 00:21:22 01:11:23 00:44:41 2 Brice Daubord, FRA 02:21:33 00:20:18 01:16:14 00:43:58 3 Bradley Weiss, RSA 02:22:59 00:20:44 01:13:41 00:47:12 4 Nico Sterk, RSA 02:30:32 00:21:27 01:17:53 00:49:51 5 Dominik Wychera, AUT 02:31:23 00:23:11 01:17:11 00:49:43 6 Christophe Betard, FRA 02:33:16 00:24:39 01:16:42 00:50:17 7 Aidan Nugent, RSA 02:34:38 00:21:29 01:20:47 00:51:09 8 Darryn Purtell, RSA 02:42:33 00:22:32 01:26:14 00:52:06 Elite Women Pl Name, NAT Time Swim Bike Run 1 Carina Wasle, AUT 02:51:02 00:22:51 01:28:30 00:57:49 2 Vicky Van Der Merwe, RSA 03:28:25 00:23:13 02:01:40 00:59:46

2017 XTERRA World Championship Qualifying Series Schedule

XTERRA Reunion was the 10th of 41 events where amateur athletes from around the world could qualify to race at the 22nd annual XTERRA World Championship in Maui on October 29.

Date Race Elite Winners or Location Feb 25 XTERRA South Africa Richard Murray / Flora Duffy Mar 4 XTERRA Motatapu Dougal Allan / Josie Wilcox Mar 18 XTERRA Saipan + Silver Sam Osborne / Carina Wasle Mar 25 XTERRA Argentina # Silver Gonzalo Tellechea / Suzie Snyder Apr 1 XTERRA Thailand + Silver Kieran McPherson / Renata Bucher Apr 1 XTERRA Chile # Silver Felipe Barraza / Barbara Riveros Apr 2 XTERRA Malta * Silver Roger Serrano / Brigitta Poor Apr 8 XTERRA New Zealand + Silver Sam Osborne / Jacqui Allen Apr 9 XTERRA Costa Rica # Silver Josiah Middaugh / Suzie Snyder Apr 16 XTERRA La Reunion Ruben Ruzafa / Carina Wasle Apr 23 XTERRA Cyprus * Silver Lara Beach/Akamas, Paphos Apr 23 XTERRA Cebu + GOLD Danao, Cebu, Philippines Apr 29 XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship / Malaysia + GOLD Langkawi, Malaysia Apr 30 XTERRA Greece * Silver Vouliagmeni May 6 XTERRA Tahiti + Silver Moorea May 14 XTERRA Spain * Silver Taragonna May 14 XTERRA Brazil # Silver Ilha Bella, Sao Paolo May 20 XTERRA Oak Mountain # GOLD Pelham, AL, USA May 27 XTERRA Portugal * Silver Golega Jun 10 XTERRA Belgium * Silver Namur Jun 17 XTERRA Mine over Matter ^ Milton, Ontario, Canada Jun 18 XTERRA Finland * Silver Imatra Jun 24 XTERRA Switzerland * GOLD Vallee de Joux Jul 2 XTERRA France * GOLD Xonrupt Jul 9 XTERRA Victoria # Silver Victoria, B.C., Canada Jul 15 XTERRA Beaver Creek # GOLD Beaver Creek, CO, USA Jul 30 XTERRA Abruzzo * Silver Scanno, Abruzzo, Italy Aug 5 XTERRA Mexico # GOLD Tapalpa Aug 5 XTERRA Norway * Silver Norefjell Aug 6 XTERRA Canmore ^ Canmore, Alberta, Canada Aug 12 XTERRA Quebec ^ Quebec City, Canada Aug 12 XTERRA Parry Sound ^ Ontario, Canada Aug 13 XTERRA Dominican Republic # Silver Barahona Aug 13 XTERRA Poland * Silver Krakow Aug 19 XTERRA Germany * GOLD Zittau Aug 26 XTERRA Sweden * Silver Hammarbybacken, Stockholm Aug 26 XTERRA Sleeping Giant ^ Thunder Bay, ON, Canada Sep 2 XTERRA Japan + Silver Hokkaido Sep 3 XTERRA European Championship / Denmark * GOLD Mons Klint Sep 16 XTERRA Pan American Championship / USA # D-GOLD Ogden, Utah, USA Oct 29 XTERRA World Championship Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

* XTERRA European Tour / # XTERRA Pan American Tour / + Asia-Pacific Tour

Silver = Min. $7,500 pro purse & 75-point scale // GOLD = Min $15,000 pro purse & 100-point scale

About TEAM Unlimited/XTERRA

TEAM Unlimited LLC, founded in 1988, is the Hawaii-based television, events, and marketing company that brought off-road triathlon and trail running to the world under the brand name XTERRA.  From a one-off race held on the most remote island chain in the world XTERRA evolved into an endurance sports lifestyle with worldwide appeal. Over the past 20 years XTERRA transcended its status as ‘just a race’ to become a bona-fide way of life for thousands of intrepid athletes as well as an emerging brand in the outdoor industry.  In 2017 XTERRA will offer more than 200 off-road triathlons and trail running events in 33+ countries worldwide and produce 10 adventure television shows for international distribution.  Learn more at xterraplanet.com.

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