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Local Sports

Llanos wins Xterra for third time overall, Dibens takes third consecutive title

By MATTHEW CARROLL, Staff Writer
POSTED: October 25, 2009

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MAKENA --- Eneko Llanos' performance in the Ironman World Championships on Oct. 10 was one to forget.

At least to him, a 14th-place finish on the Big Island wasn't anything to be proud of.

''I had a very bad race there. I was expecting much more,'' the 32-year-old Spaniard said. ''After that race I lost a little bit of confidence. It's been hard on me. So these last two weeks were hard on the mind to try to get ready for another race.''

Nothing clears the head quite like victory.

Having relaxed for most of the last two weeks following the Ironman, Llanos delivered an unforgettable performance in the Xterra World Championship on Sunday, crossing the finish line of the 14th edition of the race at Makena Beach and Golf Resort in 2 hours, 37.22 seconds, just less than a minute ahead of France's Nicholas Lebrun, who took second in 2:38.17, while Austria's Michael Weiss finished third in 2:40:24.

''I'm pretty tired, but when you win you forget everything,'' Llanos said after becoming just the fourth Xterra competitor to win the event three times. ''You forget you are suffering, you forget your legs are hurting, you forget everything.

''Maybe tomorrow I will feel much more tired,'' he said, laughing. ''But right now I feel awesome.''

He's not the only one.

England's Julie Dibens became the first Xterra athlete to claim three consecutive world championships, easily conquering the 1-mile swim, 20-mile elevated mountain-bicycle ride and 7.5-mile run in 2:56.42, nearly eight minutes ahead of Scotland's Lesley Paterson (3:04.16).

''I stand on the start line today, and each year, what happened in the past, what happened last week doesn't mean anything. We all stand there, level playing field, gunning for the win,'' said Dibens, who was second out of the water in 20:25, behind only Christine Jeffrey (19:42), who would go on to finish eighth, and built a five-minute lead entering the run by recording the fastest bike time (1:44:57). ''I just think the course, maybe its made for me. It's a real power course. There's no real steep hills which some of the smaller girls might do better on.''

Last year's male winner, Ruben Ruzafa, was forced to withdraw after falling off his bicycle during a practice on Saturday, and Brent McMahon, who was third last year with the top swimming and running splits, has been sidelined by knee bursitis.

This year's event had 486 finishers from 23 countries. Juan Garcia-Neveu of Kihei was the top Maui finisher, placing 153rd in 3:38:51.

Dibens not only bested her time from last year by more than seven minutes, but also prevented Canada's Melanie McQuaid from becoming the first four-time world champion. McQuaid was second entering the run but finished third overall in 3:05.46.

''Julie was fantastic today. She's just so strong,'' said McQuaid, who won in 2003, '05 and '06. It's going to take a lot of hard training and a really great race to beat her.

''I just didn't have the kind of day that was required to win this race today and I was OK and I'm happy that I held on there for a podium spot.''

McQuaid had a 22:41 in the swim, 1:47:38 in the bike and 55:27 in the run.

While Dibens completed the run in 51:20 and had little competition behind her, Paterson --- who finished 10th last year --- ran a 49:45, best in the field, after clocking in at 22:42 on the swim and 1:51:49 on the bike.

No matter how large a lead Dibens had, however, she never felt safe.

''There's no guarantees,'' Dibens said. ''You just have to keep focused, keep working on what you need to do, keep one foot in front of the other, and I knew that as long as I don't blow big time, the race was mine for the taking. I just had to run controlled but hard.''

Llanos, on the other hand, had no choice but to go full throttle even with his miles logged in the Ironman.

Double-duty, though, isn't anything new to him.

In 2006, with just one week between the Ironman and Xterra, he finished fifth in both races. One year later he took seventh at the Ironman and 13th on Maui. A runner-up finish at the Ironman last year preceded a sixth-place finish in the Xterra.

This year, his relatively low finish in the Ironman actually played a role in his Xterra victory.

Had Llanos not felt ill during the Ironman run --- a stomach virus prevented him from pushing himself to the limit --- his recovery time would have been longer and perhaps much more challenging.

Instead, he opted for two weeks of relaxation and enjoyment, frequenting the beach for a week in Kona before arriving on Maui and continuing to rest.

''I trained a little bit, but to tell you the truth, I was ready to relax, going to the beach, just having fun with my girlfriend,'' the 2003 and 2004 Xterra champion said. ''I was too tired from the Ironman, so my focus was just to recover, take it easy, train a little bit just to keep me in good shape.

''I couldn't push hard and I think that's the key to have a good recovery. I recovered very well. I felt amazing today.''

Llanos had a time of 44:20 in the run, leading nearly the entire way after posting a 1:33:23 in the bike leg and departing the chute seconds behind three-time winner Conrad Stoltz of South Africa, who placed fifth, and Colorado's Josiah Middaugh, who finished ninth in trying to become the first American to win since Michael Tobin in 2000.

''You expect to do great in your most important race of the season and you have a bad race,'' Llanos said of the Ironman. ''And then you come here to Maui to one of the most important races also in my racing schedule. I didn't hope to do this well, so it was a little surprise for me.''

Lebrun, who won the 2005 world championship, knows how challenging it is to follow the Ironman with another triathlon.

After competing on the Big Island last year, he was unable to finish the Xterra.

''It's amazing how he can do that after the Ironman. It's not possible I would catch him,'' Lebrun said of seeing Llanos ahead of him on the run. ''I think if you ask everybody, nobody can tell that he would win the race.''

Llanos recorded the third-fastest swim time at 19:39, behind Luke McKenzie (19:30) --- who withdrew during the bicycle leg --- and eventual eighth-place finisher Seth Wealing (19:35), but Lebrun charged back from a 21:44 swim with the third-fastest time on the biking portion (1:32:24), behind Weiss (1:30:25) and Middaugh (1:29:50).

Lebrun then had a run time of 44:09, matching eventual 11th-place finisher Richard Ussher and behind only Chris Legh (43:59), who was 29th overall.

''All the way,'' Lebrun said of having Llanos within view on the run. ''I said, 'I can, I can.' And then the last, second part I started to slow down to be less aggressive and I started to feel like if I go a little too far I will have a cramp. So I was really at the limit and I can't catch him.

''I really wanted to win so I'm a little bit disappointed,'' added Lebrun, who also finished second to Llanos in 2003. ''But I'm still second. Second in the world is not too bad. I will enjoy it.''

Weiss, who also competed in the Ironman two weeks back --- his first attempt at the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and marathon --- had a 23:44 in the swim Sunday and a 46:15 in the run.

''I jumped pretty relaxed on the bike and I never overpaced, I never crashed and I had the run of my life,'' he said. ''Last year I lost more or less in the race because I wanted to win and I had the chance to win. Today I expected maybe a top-10 result, but I never expected a top-three result.

''It's like a victory for me today.''

Dibens said she didn't expect to win in 2007, entering the event just for fun.

Three years and three titles later, the 34-year old former All-American swimmer at Louisiana State joked about going out on top.

''Maybe I should just leave it at that and walk away,'' she said with a laugh.

In fact, though, her season isn't even over yet.

''I've got a big race coming up in three weeks,'' Dibens said. ''I've got the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater (Fla.) and my whole goal this year was to come here and win that and then go there and win that.

''So I've still got business to take care of this year.''

And likely next year as well.

Matthew Carroll is at mcarroll@mauinews.com.

 
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