Posted: July 25, 2005

Triathlon: Stoltz, Whitmore Win In Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE, WI - Conrad Stoltz and Jamie Whitmore were pushed to extreme limits by the weather, the course, and their fellow competitors en route to winning the inaugural Nissan Xterra Midwest Championship pro titles this afternoon.

The XTERRA creed that "Mother Nature is your toughest competitor" has never been more evident. It was humid and sweltering hot with temperatures in the upper 90s. The temperature in Lake Michigan was a warm 75-degrees an hour before the 11am start, but then the cross wind kicked in and sent little pockets of bone-chilling water rushing past the athletes, not to mention a wind chop that put some serious motion in the ocean (err, Lake). Finally, the thunderstorms from yesterday muddied the ravine-heavy run course creating some comically slippery conditions that sent racers sliding all over.

For Conrad, his obstacles also included a broken chain on the bike, a hand still sore from a crash in Richmond, and a 'big-by-triathlon-standards' 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame that didn't want any part of the heat.

"Today I had to dig much deeper than I've had to before. The heat and humidity was astounding," said Stoltz, who's won three straight now in the Nissan Xterra Championship Series.

The race started predictably with Canadian Brent McMahon putting a minute-thirty on the field in the swim (Francisco Serrano, Andrew Noble, Michael Simpson, Olivier Marceau, and Conrad Stoltz were in the chase pack). Still, McMahon had no doubt that the "Caveman" was coming.

"There's no hiding the fact that Conrad is a machine. If his leg hasn't fallen off he's gonna outride everybody and just a minute and a half isn't enough. I knew he was coming, it was just a matter of how long it took," he said. It took about 20 minutes.

After Stoltz reeled in McMahon he started putting time into the field and was poised to run-away with this one until he broke his chain a lap-and-a-half into the bike (the majority of which parallels the Milwaukee River on rolling twisty single track trails).

"I lost a ton of time, probably two minutes and the leaders came past me and the second guy came past me and third guy came past and when Olivier came past I managed to fix my chain and the two of us starting riding together for a while and caught some people," said Stoltz.

"When I saw Conrad in the bush with his bike flipped over fixing his chain I was thinking 'oh, that's bad.but kinda good" but I knew he'd fix it and come storming back," said McMahon, who found himself in the lead again, this time alongside Mexico's Francisco Serrano.

Serrano? He finished eighth in two races in his first year in XTERRA last season, and had his best showing in Temecula in May placing sixth, but could he be the guy to break into the Olympian trio of Stoltz, McMahon, Marceau? Today, he was on fire - in a good way - and he did break in, and almost won.

"I'm used to this heat because a lot of races in Mexico are hot like this, just humid and really really hot. The national Mexican Championship was a month and a half ago and in weather just like this and I finished in fourth and that helped me a lot," said Serrano.

The 'ol 'practice makes perfect' helped Serrano as well. He came in early and on a mission to know the course and that was clear, being the only guy to ride faster than Stoltz this year.

"One of the key things was practicing. I was gliding through corners, and the conditions were worse earlier in the week when I was riding with Conrad and we did all the hard sections several times so we'd go back till we got it right," he said.

Serrano put a gap on McMahon and was the first racer out on the run, roughly 35 seconds ahead of Stoltz, who had overtaken McMahon just before T2. So it was Serrano, Stoltz, McMahon, Marceau, and Chalker out of the bike-to-run transition.

Only a stellar scramble by Stoltz, and just 47-seconds, prevented Serrano from victory.

"It was a slow run, all grass and mud and inside the forest I couldn't believe how slippery it was. I fell on the run into this huge big muddy pool and skidded down a hill and lost my glasses in the bushes somewhere. It was really funny," said Stoltz. "At the end I was really hurting, and I slowed down the last couple miles otherwise I would have blown, and when I finished I was really dehydrated."

Dehydration was the biggest demon of the day, not just for Conrad, but for everybody. It was met with a truly impressive team of medics. The Milwaukee Fire Department had five paramedics (three on stand-by and two on-course), two roving bike teams, five engines, a ladder company, battalion chief, mist tents and fire hoses on the run course and at the finish, and the Milwaukee Transit System sent a cool city bus for use as a recovery station. In addition to the ample aid stations serving Gatorade endurance formula and water on course, every athlete in the race left in good condition.

Despite admittedly "slowing down" Stoltz posted the fastest run split.

"I'm very happy and this was probably my best performance this year. I felt great in the swim - changed my stroke and it make a big difference - and I haven't run the fastest in an XTERRA in ages, probably four years. I really appreciate being on top again," said Stoltz, who added, "I'm ready for Eneko." Eneko Llanos, of course, has won the last two XTERRA World Championships.Conrad won the two before that.

Serrano was also happy with his run, and his runner-up performance."This is my best XTERRA ever and one of my best triathlon's ever. Everything came together, I felt good, had a good swim, a good bike, and I was able to hold on the run, usually these guys fly past me."

Marceau managed to get past McMahon for his third straight third-place finish in the Series. When told that Conrad said he didn't have that fast of a run he showcased his great disposition and sense of humor...

"Yes, he didn't run very fast, his bike was not very good either, and his swim was crap too," smiled Marceau. "I'm wondering what he's doing on this series, he should go to the age groupers race."

On a more genuine not he said, "Since the beginning he has dominated, it's Conrad and us, and I don't know how to beat him. He had a bad season last year, so this year it is my turn.the wheel is turning. In sports, you can't always be on top."

Complete results are available at: XTERRAPlanet.com.