Doug Hall reports from the men's race at XTERRA West which he previewed a few days ago, stating that the competition was going to be strong. He was not wrong!

Late entry Richard Stannard proved why they call him "the fish" and strung the field out with swim speed rarely seen at off-road triathlon leaving Dan Hugo, Branden Rakita, Criag Evans, Conrad Stoltz and myself in a long line spread out behind him.

Out onto the bike and Stoltz took off in chase of the lead overhauling those in front of him within the first lap. Unchalleged throughout the rest of the bike he would eventually start the run with nearly a four minute lead over Hugo. Behind him Josiah Middaugh was making up ground riding through from 16th out of the water to third postion by the end of the bike. UK interest saw Richard Stannard drop a few places before riding with myself for the remainder of the bike section until a flat front tyre caused by taking a few risks on the technical sections.

Once onto the run, Stoltz could cruise round to take the win, dedicating it to his late father; he was quite rightly emotional at the finish line. Middaugh overtook Hugo for second place to complete the podium.

Unfortunately Stannard was a DNF due to the flat and an injured back, whilst I finished in eighth place in what I would consider to be a breakthrough race for me. Winning the X-Tri series last year gave me the confidence to commit to travelling around the world to give it a shot and I feel I justified that decision today! Thanks must go to sponsors Total Fitness Bath, Specialized UK, BlueSeventy, Nuun, Fuel Belt, Moose Socks, and Coach Steve Lumley.

Two excellent galleries of the race can be found HERE and HERE