At XTERRA UK, which took place in Afan Forest Park, South Wales, the athletes were greeted by a misty drizzly day, with the rain becoming more persistent as the race progressed. By T2 the athletes were covered from head to foot in mud and the on-site commentator was having genuine problems identifying who was who. Although the numbers may have been down there was a great international turn out and athletes' performances certainly didn't disappoint the few spectators that had dared to brave the dark and murky weather conditions.

With former World Champion, Melanie McQuaid, a DNS (word has it her partner had suffered a bike crash, although reports are that he's not seriously hurt), the out and out race favourite had to be current World Champion, Julie Dibens. She led convincingly from start to finish, second place Anna Bayliss-Scheiderbauer, put up a good fight though and didn't look to be too far behind going out on to the run. By the end of the race though, Julie was well over five minutes in front of the German. The young Nicola Duggan had a strong race and was delighted to finish on the podium in third. The men's race was a lot closer and the current World Champion Conrad Stoltz knew he'd have his work cut out with the fast running french man, Nico Le Brun, also on the startline. Conrad did manage to lead the race all the way until around 5km on the final run, but the frenchman, who came into T2 just a minute down on the South African, looked to be wearing the quicker running legs. The European silver medallist went on to blast the tough final 10km and came home comfortably, with a minute to spare, ahead of the very likeable Stoltz. Germany's Ronnie Dietz finished third.

Full results available on site for the Championship event and the Sport distance .