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Vincente, Csomor Win XTERRA Makena Beach Trail Run 10K in Maui, Hawaii

Posted October 29, 2007 at 05:44 PM by Bart Moylan

Section: Destinations, U.S.A., News, Trail Running

At the blast of a cannon, 355 trail runners from 14 different countries and 30 U.S. states took off for the XTERRA Makena Beach Trail Run on Saturday. With a backdrop of bright blue skies and palm trees swaying in the balmy breeze, this trail run is the kickoff event for a weekend of XTERRA adventures.

Competitors chose from two off-road courses, a 10K or a 5K - each serving up a plateful of Mother Nature’s finest ingredients including loose gravel and lava rocks, soft sand and humid temperatures.

XTERRA 10K
It was Mexico’s Octavio Vincente who stole first place in the XTERRA Makena Beach 10K in 46 minutes and 34 seconds. His first time in Maui, Vincente came to support his three friends competing in Sunday’s XTERRA off-road triathlon. On a whim, he decided yesterday at registration to compete. With victory sweet, he said with a smile “Maui is beautiful and I like XTERRA, I want to come back next year.”

Right on his heels was local star Paul Hopwood of Paia, Maui in a time of 46:48. Hopwood was followed by Paul Welch of Stowe, Vermont who took third in 48:47.

The women’s winner of the XTERRA Makena Beach 10K and the Hawaiian Airlines prize of roundtrip airfare from the West Coast to Hawaii was Hungarian triathlete Erika Csomor, who broke the finish tape in a speedy time of 49 minutes and 43 seconds. A few weeks back, she raced in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, finishing 10th place and plans to compete in the XTERRA World Championship off-road triathlon on Sunday. “This was a warm up of sorts; the course was quite nice, the sand hard - I think XTERRA is cool.”

Rachel Cieslewicz of Salt Lake City, Utah was runner-up in 50:19. Lindsay Krause of Littleton, Colorado had a time of 52:52 to take home third.

XTERRA 5K
The first to cross the finish tape in the short course was Lahainaluna cross-country coach, Dagen Bendixen of Lahaina, Maui in a time of 22 minutes and 37 seconds. The first time running in an XTERRA event, this first place will make his kids proud. He called the course “brutal - the hills and sand were never ending. I thought the hill would be done at any time, but we kept going up and up and up.”

He was followed by Yasuhiro Jojima of Tokyo, Japan who crossed at 23:06, while Mike Irwin of Haiku finished less than a minute later in 23:48.

For the women, it was 11-year-old phenom Dakota Grossman of Pukalani, Maui who smoked the rest of the pack, breaking the tape in 27 minutes and 10 seconds, 12th place overall. The next generation of XTERRA, she said “XTERRA is fun! The course was good. The hardest parts were the hills and the rocks.”

Kula resident Nancy Robberson finished second in 28:29 with Heather Biglow of Boulder, Colorado third (28:54).

Proceeds from this event benefit the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Maui County.

More information on the world championship weekend can be found at: XTERRAplanet.com

Written by: Monica Bridle
Via: Running USA Wire

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