October surprise at Xterra

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MAKENA - Ruben Ruzafa may be the most surprising winner of the Xterra World Championship off-road triathlon's 13-year history.

He wasn't included among the 36 men's biographies in the media guide for the 2008 event and at 24, he is one of the youngest winners ever in the event.

After being more than two minutes behind after the 0.9-mile swim, the Spaniard took the lead on the 19.1-mile mountain bike portion of the event and held on during the 6.9-mile trail run for the win in 2 hours, 37 minutes, 36 seconds - 34 seconds in front of 2004 Olympic mountain biker Michael Weiss of Austria.

Defending women's winner Julie Dibens of Great Britain made it two in a row by finishing in 3:03:57, 42nd place overall.

The smile on Ruzafa's face told the story on a sweltering, windless day in Makena.

Ruzafa requested to do the interview in Spanish, but when no translator could be found, he got through it in English.

''I didn't swim very well, I lost a lot, but I only lost two minutes and a half, I think,'' Ruzafa said.

''That is a very well time for me. In the bike I got to the head of the race when Conrad (Stoltz, the eventual 12th-place finisher) got a flat (tire). I take more time and then decided to ride in first.

''I feel very tired and at the end, it was very hard at the beach because the sand is very hot for a long time and my legs are very dead, but I am very happy and I want to come next year.''

Ruzafa had a 31-second lead over Weiss after the bike and he kept a close eye on his closest pursuer for the rest of the race.

''Yes, I saw all the timer, they timed me, but I think he could touch me, but at the end, no. We both are very tired. I feel very happy. I know that I will come very well, but winning is very difficult. (There are) very strong people here. In the end I am surprised and I don't know what I think. Now, I am in a cloud.''

On his way home to Spain, Ruzafa said it may all sink in.

''In the plane, I will think 'well, I win the Xterra World Championship,' '' he said. ''It is unbelievable for me.''

Weiss said he was within ''10 to 12 seconds'' of Ruzafa midway through the run portion of the event, but could not get closer.

''I knew that it will be hard because there was so much climbing in the beginning of the run and because he is so much lighter than me,'' the 6-foot-2 Weiss said. ''I am about 170 pounds and he is one head smaller than me and he weighs about 150 pounds, so he might have an advantage on the climbs. I could catch him a little bit on the first mile, but then it always kept the same unfortunately.''

Weiss, who missed his country's Olympic mountain bike team for Beijing by one spot, said he knew from Ruzafa's results on the World Cup mountain biking circuit that he would be hard to catch.

Weiss could only imagine what might have been. After he missed the Olympics this year, he said he has now shifted his focus to Xterra and beyond that, Ironman triathlons.

''I am a little bit disappointed because against the real triathletes I would be the winner but now there is the mountain biker and now I am second,'' he said.

''I am a little bit (disappointed) but still happy.''

Ruzafa has been listed as an Olympic qualifier for Spain in mountain biking this year, but was not on the final team.

Trey Garman, vice president of Team Unlimited Xterra, said that in his seven years with the sport, it has been tough to find a winner as obscure as Ruzafa.

''It is quite a surprise,'' Garman said. ''We knew he was going to be up there with the mountain bikers, but there's other world-class mountain bikers in this race. I guess the unknown factors for us was if he could swim and if he could run. We knew he could mountain bike. We saw on the Web pages that he was on the Olympic team for mountain biking and then at the last minute he got replaced. I don't know the story behind that.

''The swim and the run are 10 percent and then 25 percent of the race. the mountain bike is 65 percent of the race, so we knew he could excel there, but obviously the guy can swim and run, too.''

For Dibens, a former swimmer at Louisiana State University, the win was proof that she is at the top of off-road triathlons for women. She beat second-place Danelle Kabush by 59 seconds after beginning the run more than 6 1/2 minutes ahead.

''It was really hard out there,'' Dibens said. ''I was really struggling with the heat today and the run was real survival.

"I knew the other girls would be catching me, so I am absolutely stoked to win another world championship.''

Wailuku's James Franzen finished in 124th overall, taking 13th place in the men's 40-44 division with a time of 3:26:29.

Marsha Sarver of Haiku was was the 57th woman to cross the finish line, eighth in the women's 40-44 division, with a time of 4:09:08.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com