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Xterra Malta - European Tour begins!

2nd Apr 2015

What a stunning start to the Xterra European Tour – a brand new event in a historic location, boasting one of the best trail runs on the Xterra circuit.

A good start - 2nd out of the swim

My first impression of Malta was how friendly everyone is, and what amazing old buildings and towns we passed on the way from the airport – it looked more like North Africa than Europe. No time to sightsee on arrival though – first stop Golden Sands beach to check out the swim location before it got dark! We made it just in time for a twilight recce – even through tinted goggles we could see the water was perfectly clear and calm. But that was the only time we would visit the bay without surf waves!

I was staying with the GB contingent of Rory, Matt and Callum – and as the only girl in the apartment they kindly designated me the double bed & my own bathroom. Sweet! It was a lot of fun staying in Team HQ, but nice having my Aloha teammate Karin in the hotel to dilute the testosterone ;) It was sociable all recce-ing the course together and checking out the local eateries (a mixture of amazing and questionable!) Everywhere seemed to do Hawaiian pizza though, so that was Rory’s pre-requisite for race night sorted ;)

Enjoying the trails

The race course itself – so much more than we expected after looking at the straight lines on the map and thinking we would find fire roads! Most of these were actually challenging Roman roads – bouncy descents where you wish you had full suspension, or uneven climbs with jagged rocks and narrow gulleys that if you ended up in, you couldn’t pedal out without hitting your cranks on the rock. Add in the extra dimension of island crosswinds – and it was a true test of balancing skill!

Some nice climbs, singletrack through trees and unexpected technical descents made for a fast but challenging course that should lead to exciting racing. The landscape was scattered with amazing giant cacti – not somewhere you want to end up by overcooking a corner!

Cacti overlooking Golden Sands bay

As for the run course – 2 loops around a scenic plateau - sounded like it would be flat, but involved steep scrambles, and thanks to the unseasonable rain in the days before, some slippery descents to negotiate.

Yes - in the days before the race, Team GB was enjoying driving on the left, speaking English and using our familiar plug sockets, but not so much the weather – which was a little too, well, British (i.e. raining!)

Getting out of the sea was harder than it looks!

Thankfully we awoke on race day to perfect weather – clear blue skies and a warm sun that is more what you imagine when you think of Malta! The mood was buoyant in transition – the event organisers here are so happy and enthusiastic it’s infectious and gives a great ambiance to the event.

The sea breeze was whipping up some nice waves to give us a challenging start – sadly the swim had to be shortened as one of the buoys got tangled in the jetski engine and couldn’t be used. I thought I had a rubbish swim, but most people must have found it even harder as I found myself exiting 2nd from the water. So far, so good!

I knew there were some uber-bikers behind me though, not least my fellow GB teammate (and Commonwealth Games MTB-er) Jess Roberts. She promptly flew past up the first technical climb where I was still recovering my balance from the swim! My Aloha teammate Elisabetta Curridori was also in the mix, and on the second lap I managed to hang on to the wheel of Maud Golsteyn until the biggest climb. She had recovered the time lost on the swim… but was still recovering from racing Cape Epic MTB stage race only the week before – legend!

Happy with 5th place

I hit T2 together with top runner Sandra Koblmuller – and knew I could get a good finish if I kept her in sight. Brigitta Poor had something like 8 minutes lead off the bike, but all the other girls were within striking distance – it was all going to come down to the run. For once, an exciting race, not 10 minute gaps between the athletes coming off the bike – as can sometime happen in the longer races!

Brigitta held onto her lead by 2.5 minutes to take the win, her first Xterra Victory! She was the only one who could hold off the super-speedy Sandra, who gained 4 minutes on everyone to take 2nd. Maud managed to catch Elisabetta in the final km to take 3rd, but still a career best for Betta in 4th. I was happy to run up to 5th place, and while not my best finish position, the closest in terms of time I have been to the podium or the winner so it’s all good progress! Not far behind was our Aloha teammate Karin in 7th – a fantastic result for her first Pro race.

Lou, Sandra, Brigitta, Maud and Betta make up the podium

It was great racing for the first time in Aloha team – so cool wearing our matching Rudy Project glasses and personalised Kask helmets. Thumbs up to our team sponsors!

And thanks as ever to my own sponsors - the Zone3 Vanquish was invaluable in the swim, for warmth as well as buoyancy! Also Alex at Drummond Clinic, and Mountain Trax for keeping myself and my bike respectively in great working order! And finally 2Pure for supporting me with nutrition from OSMO & Honey Stinger.