By Robert Balajadia
Australian Ben Allen has made Guam his personal stomping grounds as he captured his 4th XTERRA Guam first place finish early Saturday morning. Allen finished with a solid time of 2:26:28 despite the original bike course changing due to the weather.
“The bike course was a bit shorter due to the conditions, but I felt strong today in all three disciplines,” said Allen, who knew that he was well ahead after coming out of the water first. “In the end, I’m just pushing it against myself.”
There was no doubting Allen as he was the first out of the water and first to finish the biking portion, which was well ahead of second place finisher Bradley Vice at 2:36:42. Guam’s first finisher was professional athlete Charlie Epperson at 2:44:00 (unofficial), coming in 5th place.
XTERRA Guam Champion Ben Allen! (photo by Richard Camacho IV)
“It really showed here today that the support we’ve been getting from the community and Cameron and Kylie O’Neil, two of the most warm hearted people on island, it’s enabled me to have such a good performance today. It’s not just my victory, it’s theirs as well,” added Allen.
Allen and fellow Australian female competition Jacqui Slack are on an XTERRA World Tour, a 13-race venture with Guam being the official kick off.
Slack and Austrian Carina Wasle were neck-and-neck all race long, but the Austrian found the edge in the running leg of the event despite a mishap midway through the course!
“There was a mud-hole in the running and I spent a while looking for my shoe. Jacqui had passed me again and I thought I might have had to run with one shoe, but I was lucky to find it again. When I cam out of the river I used the flat zone to get away.”
False was intent on coming back stronger in 2015 after getting lost in the run portion of the event last year where she had to settle for second place.
Guam’s own Mieko Carey rolls through the bike trail despite the heavy mud. (photo by Richard Camacho IV)
From the finish line, Wasle came running through the final stretch with a full minute lead ahead of Slack, but she had already felt confident she was going to close out the win with the finish line in sight.
Professional athlete Mieko Carey was Guam’s first female to cross the finish line at 2:56:10.
The first relay team was completed by Team triple J and the Jones cousins at 3:00:37.
PHOTO GALLERY:
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
(photo by Richard Camacho IV)
DID U KNOW?
Frank ‘The Crank’ Camacho was a competitive youth golfer in Saipan with dreams of making it to the PGA.
QUICK HITS
(AP/Carlos Osorio)
