NEWS

One month to go until first World Cross Triathlon Championships

By Merryn Sherwood | 30 Mar, 2011

If history is anything to go by then the host country should do well when the starting gun goes off at the first ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships in Spain, just a month from today.

The event in Extremadura will be the first Cross Triathlon world titles in history, but there have been regular European and Pan American championships since 2007 and the results from both show that the host country often has an advantage.

At the 2007 Cross Triathlon European titles in Ibiza, Spain took all-three podium places in the men’s race. At the 2008 European titles in Ameland in the Netherlands, Dutch athletes won both the men’s and women’s races. At the 2008 PATCO South American championships in Peru, athletes from Peru also took both men’s and women’s titles.

That has changed in the past two years though, mainly due to Frenchman Franky Batelier and his two consecutive European titles. Batelier won the first in 2009 in Italy, then followed it up with a second-straight win at the 2010 event in Slovakia. The women also started to mix things up, the respective 2009 and 2010 women’s European winners were Swiss athlete Renata Bucher and Austrian Carina Wasle.

Wasle, from Austria, is also a notable athlete given she’s also competed in the highest level at Winter Triathlon. Wasle won the Winter World triathlon title in 2009 and has reached the podium at other world titles and world cup races in the snow.

The field for the first 2011 cross titles could have plenty of athletes like Wasle, as it’s quite common for athletes in Europe to compete in both cross and winter triathlon. But there is also likely to be some athletes who come from traditional Olympic-distance triathlon like Spain’s Ivan Rana. Rana was the 2002 ITU World Champion and finished fifth in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games men’s race and has been named in Spain’s team for the world cross titles, alongside Eneko Llanos.

The inaugural elite world titles will be decided over a 1km swim, 20km mountain bike and 6km cross-country run.

The event also features age-group categories, as well as junior and paratriathlon races.  All athletes have the option to also enter the cross duathlon which consists of a 6km cross-country run, 20km mountain bike and finishes with a 3km cross-country run.

The championships will be staged at “The Ring”, in Extremadura, an International Innovation Centre for outdoor sports.

Related Event: 2011 Extremadura ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships
30 Apr, 2011 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Women
1. Melanie Mcquaid CAN 01:43:01
2. Shonny Vanlandingham USA 01:43:24
3. Emma Garrard USA 01:43:43
4. Christine Jeffrey CAN 01:45:22
5. Marion Lorblanchet FRA 01:47:16
6. Zuriñe Rodriguez Sanchez ESP 01:47:34
7. Renata Bucher SUI 01:48:13
8. Adriana Fabiola Corona MEX 01:50:34
9. Susan Sloan RSA 01:51:27
10. Helena Herrero Gomez ESP 01:51:31
Results: Elite Men
1. Conrad Stoltz RSA 01:26:40
2. Seth Wealing USA 01:27:36
3. Olivier Marceau SUI 01:29:42
4. Josiah Middaugh USA 01:30:26
5. Richard Stannard GBR 01:31:04
6. Eneko Llanos Burguera ESP 01:31:28
7. Bruno Pais POR 01:32:11
8. Branden Rakita USA 01:32:13
9. Victor Manuel Del Corral Morales ESP 01:32:46
10. Craig Evans USA 01:34:37
Results: Junior Women
1. Miriam Casillas García ESP 01:01:47
2. Jip Veelenturf NED 01:05:09
3. Judit Saizar Ardanuy ESP 01:05:14
4. Sindija Veinberga LAT 01:12:19
5. Anna Godoy Contreras ESP 01:13:27
6. Camila Alonso Aradas ESP 01:21:00
Results: Junior Men
1. Filipe Azevedo POR 00:50:36
2. Hugo Alves POR 00:50:51
3. Diego Paz Sobreira ESP 00:51:28
4. Jarrich Van Woersem NED 00:51:49
5. Miguel Fernandes POR 00:52:29
6. Filip Lishak SVK 00:54:17
7. Genis Grau ESP 00:54:59
8. David Castro Fajardo ESP 00:55:28
9. Jordi García Gracia ESP 01:00:33
Results: U23 Women
5. Tamara Gomez Garrido ESP 02:11:50
3. Baiba Medne LAT 02:05:10
1. Brigitta Poór HUN 01:53:11
4. Helen Schmidt EST 02:11:46
2. Kairi Schmidt EST 02:01:53
Results: U23 Men
1. Hugo Ventura POR 01:32:35
2. Tim Dullaart NED 01:37:06
3. Mark Threlfall GBR 01:38:07
4. Jozef Tomasovic SVK 01:38:29
5. Vasco Pessoa POR 01:39:55
6. Jorge Naranjo Vichot ESP 01:43:42
7. João Serrano POR 01:44:23
8. Ricardo Hernandez Marrero ESP 01:44:55
9. Jack Grundy GBR 01:46:23
10. Kristaps Plonis LAT 01:55:05