Welcome to XTERRA GUAM

2007 was our second year as part of the XTERRA America Tour and what an event it was. Just when it looked like the week-long rains would subside, Mother Nature threatened to spice up the already damp bike course early race morning. Instead, she played nice—well, sort of—bringing consistent cloud cover and nearly 25mph winds to greet the 100 participants at XTERRA Guam on March 11. The blustery conditions forced a quick re-routing of the 1000- meter swim course in an attempt to minimize the effects of a very strong current in the Piti Channel. The gun went off promptly at 7:30 a.m., and the racers surged forward, adding to the already churning waters. Julie Dibens of Great Britain emerged from the water first, in 14:48. Thirty-two seconds later another female pro, Sybille Matter of Switzerland, exited the swim, followed by the first male, OlivierMarceau of France. Once on the bike, Marceau quickly dominated the course. The 27km bike started with about three miles of climbing on paved road before entering thetechnical terrain. The strong winds managed to dry up most of the course but left enough mud to warrant hike-a-bike sections. Hurrying to make up for a nearly five-minute deficit to Marceau on the swim was the UK’s Sam Gardner. With a professional mountain biking background to his credit, the technical, muddy conditions suited him perfectly as he set the fastest bike split of the day. But Marceau remained steady and only gave up 28 seconds of his lead to Gardner as they headed into T2. Meanwhile, Dibens, in only her third XTERRA event, held off the chase pack of Renata Bucher (Switzerland), Jamie Whitmore (USA) and Matter to reach T2 with a seemingly comfortable five-minute lead. The improperly billed 5km trail run turned out to actually be 6km. After a short run through the village of Piti, the course turned off-road with a quad-burning hill climb, an eight-foot ridge jump and then about a half-mile f grass-covered path. Racers then had to navigate down a waterfall. Once at the bottom of the falls, the course followed the river channel, which varied in depth from ankle-high to waist-deep. Marceau continued to hold his lead through the trail run, but Gardner was digging deep to catch him. Despite setting the fastest run split, Gardner could not reel the speedy French athlete in as Marceau broke the tape in 2:01:49. Gardner was second in 2:05:27.

BUCHER GIVES CHASE
The women’s race began to exhibit considerable drama as Bucher started her pursuit of the leader. Down nearly eight minutes to Dibens out of the swim, Bucher posted the fastest women’s bike split and was carving out chunks of time during the run. Dibens, an experienced ITU racer, expressed concern pre-race about the steep and slippery waterfall section. She cautiously made her way through the run knowing there were some impressive runners on her tail. Both Bucher and Whitmore made their final charge in the tree-canopied river, posting the fastest and second-fastest women’s run times. But their efforts were not enough as Dibens crossed the finish line in 2:15:58, with Bucher a minute and half later followed by Whitmore in 2:18:22.