Off-Road, On Podium: Conrad “Caveman” Stoltz Victorious at XTERRA World Championships, Julie Dibens Takes Second
They call him “the Caveman.”
Why, you may ask, does Oakley’s Conrad Stoltz carry such an awesome nickname? Because he’s a beast…on a mountain bike, that is. Just ask his rivals at the 2010 XTERRA Off-Road Triathlon World Championship in Maui this past weekend. The South African smoked the field and tallied his fourth XTERRA world title after finishing in 2 hours, 31 minutes, 7 seconds. His closest rival was more than 5 minutes back in his trail dust.
Not to mention, the feat was the second-largest margin for victory in the history of the picturesque contest.
“This feels the best by far,” said Stoltz, who also won the XTERRA world title in 2001, 2002 and 2007. “2007 was rewarding because I was able to come back from injuries. This year, there was a lot of emotional pressure.”
Stoltz came out of the swim in seventh place and 20 seconds behind swim leader Seth Wealing. Fortunately, he more than made up for the deficit by blasting past everyone in the mountain bike. He passed all the leaders early in the bike stage, and had a four-minute lead halfway through the course.
“The course was harder than I thought,” Stoltz said, rocking his Oakley eyewear following the race. “It was looser here than it has been in years – really loose, so I knew I was making time with every stroke of the pedal. The 29er just rolled over this loose, bumpy stuff.”
In the meantime, Oakley’s Julie Dibens, a 2004 Triathlon Olympian for Great Britain and a third place finisher at the recent 2010 Ironman World Championships, proved that she didn’t need much time to recover after her race in Kona. Ironman took place in early October…and just weeks later, she charged into Maui and secured a podium spot.
Although Julie didn’t take the top honors, she definitely displayed her class and made her immense respect for her opponents, crystal clear.
“That was hard from the get-go,” Julie said after the race. “But I knew it was going to be hard. Shonny had an awesome race today and totally deserved to win. I got beat by a way better girl today.”
Nevertheless, second place, especially in this case, can be awesome.
Congratulations to both Julie and Conrad for an amazing race in Maui!
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