Just before crossing the finish line at the XTERRA triathlon, Conrad Stoltz took on a whole different personna when somebody tossed him a cowboy hat.

The Caveman became the Cowboy.

It was a fitting headgear since Stoltz rode herd over the field at the XTERRA South Central championship on a humid, windy Sunday morning at Cameron Park.

Christie Sym of Collaroy, Australia winds her way through a Cameron Park trail in the triathlon.
Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald

The seven-time U.S. Pro Series champion won the off-road triathlon by more than three minutes, completing the one-mile swim, the 15-mile mountain bike ride and six-mile run in 2:02:21.

Switzerland’s Renata Bucher won the women’s pro division with a time of 2:17:59, while Adam Wirth of Boise, Idaho, was the top amateur finisher at 2:15:42. There were 230 competitors in the championship and half-distance races.

When Stoltz finished the race, he got on the public address system and said, “When I found out I was leading by four minutes, I said maybe we should bring the XTERRA world championship here.”

The South Africa native is a three-time XTERRA world champion and a two-time Olympic triathlete. But even he was surprised by how well he mastered the tough, twisting trails through Cameron Park’s hills.

“This is such a technical course, but I think I got it right,” Stoltz said. “I rode my mountain bike out here Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and I tried to visualize the course when I got on it today. One of the hardest things for me was trying to stay hydrated during the bike ride. It’s hard to grab a bottle because the course is so technical. I drank three quarters of a gallon of fluid just on the bike ride.”

Stoltz was in fourth place coming out of the one-mile swim in the Brazos River. After his 20-minute swim, Stoltz flew through the challenging trails in Cameron Park by covering 15 miles in 65 minutes.

South African Conrad Stoltz (left) donned a cowboy hat en route to his first-place finish in the XTERRA South Central championship, while Switzerland’s Renata Bucher was the top women’s finisher in the off-road triathlon at Cameron Park.
Jose Yau/Waco Tribune-Herald

Second-place finisher Josiah Middaugh of Vail, Colo., tried in vain to catch Stoltz.

“He definitely had a flawless race,” said Middaugh, who finished the race at 2:05:26. “When Conrad is wailing like that on the bike, there’s nothing much the rest of us can do. He’s a very good technical rider. My specialty is long, sustained climbs, and there were no sections here more than 50 meters long.”

Middaugh gained more than a minute on Stoltz during the finishing six-mile run that began with a tough climb up Jacob’s Ladder. But Stoltz’s 36-minute, 44-second run was more than enough to hold off all challengers.

“This is the kind of race where Conrad is just on another planet,” said Nicolas Lebrun, who finished third at 2:06:30. “Conrad can climb with power, and he was really strong in this race. I was real happy with my third place finish because I broke the frame of my bike the day before, and I had to borrow a bike for the race.”

Bucher delivered a strong performance in the women’s pro division as she finished two minutes, 15 seconds ahead of Shonny Vanlandingham, who came in second at 2:20:14.

Bucher, a four-time European XTERRA champion, was four minutes behind Christine Jeffrey after the swim. But she surged into the lead with a bike ride of one hour, 13 minutes.

“They call Christine the big fish,” Bucher said. “But I was real happy with my swim, and I felt good on the bike. I had ridden the bike course twice before today’s race, and I was still surprised by how hard it was. You need both hands all the time because there are so many turns.”

Contestants start the half-distance swimming race in the Brazos River on Sunday.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

After the punishing run up Jacob’s Ladder, Bucher fell down during her run when she bumped into another racer. But she got back up to finish comfortably even though she was covered with mud.

“I thought Renata was the one to beat in this race,” Vanlandingham said. “She’s so lightweight, and that helps on a steep course. You’ve really got to focus the whole time on this course. There’s just no place to relax. I’d put it among the top three physically demanding courses that I’ve been on.”

Dave Nicholas, the managing director of the XTERRA World Tour, said he hopes to bring the race back to Waco next year.

“I thought it went very well,” Nicholas said. “We’ve got an experienced crew, and we got a lot of help from the local people. The facility here is world class. We want to bring it back, and make it even bigger.”

jwerner@wacotrib.com

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