Brandi Heisterman surprised even herself with her performance at the 2011 Xterra Canadian Open Championship, which took place in Whistler on Sunday (Sept. 4).
The Brackendale resident, who was competing in her first ever Xterra, managed to finish 20th overall and second among all women, posting a time of three hours, 15 minutes, 37 seconds.
"I was super excited for this race," she said on her blog. "Maybe it was because it was my first Xterra, and there was less pressure for success or maybe because I didn't really train for it so I had somewhat low expectations."
Heisterman admitted to being apprehensive about the swimming portion of the event but she pushed through it. She was second-to-last out of the water among the pro women but she was prepared to make up ground in her area of expertise - the bike.
"Trying to catch up was a challenge," she said. "I was 62nd out of the water, and passed about 40 people on the bike.It was tricky passing, but everyone was super friendly about it and I caught all the pros but Melanie McQuaid by halfway through the first lap."
Heisterman maintained her placing in the run, finishing second and picking up a cool $1,250 for her efforts.
She wasn't the only local who fared well at the event, as Squamish's Daryl Wood finished 38th overall and Brackendale's Peter Henderson was 53rd. Karen Mann was the second-fastest female, finishing in 95th place.
At the top of the race, history repeated itself with the men's and women's winners of the Championship course regaining their titles won in Whistler in 2010.
Josiah Middaugh of Vail, Colo., won the men's event again, finishing the 1.5-km swim, 30-km bike and 12-km trail run in a time of 2:38:46, while Victoria's McQuaid (3:05:41) was the women's champ for a second straight year.
"I don't know, I guess I just get lucky," joked Middaugh when asked what the secret to his success in Whistler has been. "It definitely helped to get around the course a couple of times before the race - [the trails] are nothing like I'm used to. I just tried to stay focused, keep my head up and not screw up too many times."
Middaugh said he took the lead for good on the opening bike lap on the Westside trails but that it was difficult to gauge how big of a gap he had over the rest of the field. He finished with a one-minute, 48-second margin of victory over Edmonton's Mike Vine, who was in the runner-up position for a second straight year as well.
"I'm pretty happy with second. I haven't been racing so much this year and I didn't know how I would do. I've really let my swimming slide," said Vine, who won an Xterra event in Canmore, Alta., earlier this summer, though he noted the field wasn't quite as strong as Sunday's. "But I knew my biking and running was all right and once I got going on the bike, I started catching guys."
Colorado residents Seth Wealing and Branden Rakita placed third and fourth, respectively, and Victoria's Kelly Guest was fifth overall in a field of more than 110 athletes.
McQuaid, a three-time Xterra world champ, had a good lead over the women's field by the time she came out of Alta Lake and continued to build on it over the bike and run legs.
"It's important to me to have our national championship, that's a good title to have," said McQuaid. "This was a really technical course, so there are some good bragging rights when you can win on a course like this, for sure."
For more information and complete results from the event, visit www.raceheadquarters.com.
- With files from Eric MacKenzie, Whistler Question
