Langkawi, Malaysia – In a powerful display of unity, Sam Osborne, Kieran McPherson, Ben Allen, and Bradley Weiss – the top four ranked elite men in the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour standings, crossed the finish line together and were declared co-champions of the 2017 XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship race held in Langkawi this afternoon.

The day started with Allen and Osborne coming out of the water together, with Weiss and McPherson about one-minute back.  By the 20km mark on the bike those four were riding single file with Weiss leading the way.  It was shaping up to be a race for the ages, but then “the last 5km of the bike we couldn’t find the signage on the course, and we all went the wrong way,” said Allen.

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“There were markers out there but they were everywhere,” added McPherson.  “We’d get down a path and realize it led to nowhere and have to turnaround.”

“It was un-raceable at that point,” said Weiss.

While the group managed to find their way out of the bike route and back to the bike-to-run transition, the racing spirit was gone.  Instead of turning it into a running race to see who won, they decided to neutralize the event, do the run together as a group, and finish together.

“Last thing in the world we wanted to do but really felt there was no other option,” said Osborne.

The decision was upheld by the racing committee, who agreed it was the best possible solution given the circumstances.

“We tried to pre-empt this from happening,” said Weiss.  “We had been here from earlier in the week and were unclear where the course went. We had meetings to address our concerns but it didn’t get marked in time to pre-ride, so on race day we were still not sure where it went.”

Elite Men’s Results

Pos Name, NAT Time Points Tied 1 Bradley Weiss, RSA 2:51:27 87 Tied 1 Sam Osborne, NZL – 87 Tied 1 Kieran McPherson, NZL – 87 Tied 1 Ben Allen, AUS – 87 5 David Escolar, ESP 2:58:39 69 6 Alex Hunt, AUS 2:58:57 63 7 Brodie Gardner, AUS 3:04:00 58 8 Will Kelsay, USA 3:12:59 53 9 Joe Miller, PHI 3:19:42 49 10 Taylor Charlton, AUS 3:20:36 45 11 Takahiro Ogasawara, JPN 3:23:06 41 12 Akihiko Maeda, JPN 3:53:29 37 13 Jacky Boisset, FRA 4:01:08 34

In the women’s race Carina Wasle passed Jacqui Allen on the run to win her third title in 13 days following wins at XTERRA Reunion Island and XTERRA Danao in the Philippines.

“I like this run course, lots of climbing and very technical,” said Wasle, who overcame a five-minute deficit on the run to take the win.

Jacqui Allen had the fastest swim by more than one-minute and the best bike by nearly four-minutes.  After being passed by Wasle on the run, however, she subsequently veered off-course and Myriam Guillot-Boisset moved into the second spot.

Leela Hancox from Australia, in her first race as an elite, finished fourth.

Pos Name, NAT Time Points 1 Carina Wasle, AUT 3:20:26 100 2 Myriam Guillot-Boisset, FRA 3:32:53 90 3 Jacqui Allen, GBR 3:44:00 82 4 Leela Hancox, AUS 3:54:06 75

With the win Wasle takes a commanding lead in the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour standings with two races to go, while the top four elite men remain unchanged with Osborne, McPherson, Allen, and Weiss.  Next up: XTERRA Tahiti (May 6).

XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour Elite Standings – After 5 (As of Apr. 29)

 M S S S G G PL NAME, NAT TOT SPN THA NZL PHI MAS 1 Sam Osborne, NZL 327 75 DNS 75 90 87 2 Kieran McPherson, NZL 300 56 75 DNS 82 87 3 Ben Allen, AUS 290 61 67 DNS 75 87 4 Bradley Weiss, RSA 254 67 DNS DNS 100 87 5 Will Kelsay, USA 216 47 47 DNS 69 53 6 Brodie Gardner, AUS 205 39 61 47 DNS 58 7 David Escolar, ESP 168 DNS 56 43 DNS 69 8 Joe Miller, PHI 142 30 DNS DNS 63 49 9 Taylor Charlton, AUS 141 DNS 43 DNS 53 45 10 Olly Shaw, NZL 109 DNS DNS 51 58 DNS 11 Markus Benesch, AUT 102 51 51 DNS DNS DNS 12 Takahiro Ogasawara, JPN 92 21 30 DNS DNF 41 13 Alex Roberts, NZL 85 DNS DNS 36 49 DNF 14 Aleksandr Dorovskikh, RUS 72 36 36 DNS DNS DNS 15 Hayden Wilde, NZL 67 DNS DNS 67 DNS DNS 16 Alex Hunt, AUS 63 DNS DNS DNS DNS 63 17 Akihiko Maeda, JPN 62 25 DNS DNS DNS 37 18 Kyle Smith, NZL 61 DNS DNS 61 DNS DNS 19 Fynn Thompson, NZL 56 DNS DNS 56 DNS DNS 20 Yuichi Hosoda, JPN 43 43 DNS DNS DNS DNS 21 Jacob Storey 39 DNS 39 DNS DNS DNS 22 John Mering, NZL 39 DNS DNS 39 DNS DNS 23 Jacky Boisset, FRA 34 DNS DNS DNS DNS 34 24 Dominik Wychera, AUT 33 33 DNS DNS DNS DNS 25 Fabrizio Bartoli, ITA 33 DNS 33 DNS DNS DNS 26 Cedric Wane, FRA 33 DNS DNS 33 DNS DNS 27 Emil Duraj, SVK 27 27 DNS DNS DNS DNS 28 Michal Bucek, SVK 23 23 DNF DNS DNS DNS  WM S S S G G PL NAME, NAT TOT SPN THA NZL PHI MAS 1 Carina Wasle, AUT 275 75 DNS DNS 100 100 2 Jacqui Allen, GBR 157 DNS DNS 75 DNF 82 3 Penny Slater, AUS 141 DNS DNS 51 90 DNS 4 Renata Bucher, SUI 131 DNS 75 56 DNS DNS 5 Myriam Guillot-Boisset, FRA 90 DNS DNS DNS DNS 90 6 Jessica Koltz, USA 82 DNS DNS DNS 82 DNS 7 Leela Hancox, AUS 75 DNS DNS DNS DNS 75 8 Kelli Montgomery, USA 67 DNS 67 DNS DNS DNS 9 Mieko Carey, JPN 67 67 DNS DNS DNS DNS 10 Hannah Wells, NZL 67 DNS DNS 67 DNS DNS 11 Marika Wagner, SWE 61 DNS 61 DNS DNS DNS 12 Josie Wilcox, NZL 61 DNS DNS 61 DNS DNS 13 Belinda Hadden, AUS 56 DNS 56 DNS DNS DNS 14 Rebecca Clarke, NZL 47 DNS DNS 47 DNS DNS 15 Lizzy Bunckenburg, NZL 43 DNS DNS 43 DNS DNS

2017 XTERRA World Championship Qualifying Series Schedule

The XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship race was the 13th 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 Danao + GOLD Bradley Weiss / Carina Wasle Apr 23 XTERRA Cyprus * Silver Yeray Luxem / Brigitta Poor Apr 29 XTERRA Langkawi + GOLD Osborne,Allen,Weiss,McPherson/Wasle 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 (DEN) * GOLD Mons Klint Sep 16 XTERRA Pan Am 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.

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