Rotorua's Sam Osborne on his way to a win at Xterra Mexico. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua's Sam Osborne on his way to a win at Xterra Mexico. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua's Sam Osborne and Samantha Kingsford have continued an impressive run of results on the Xterra Pan Am tour with wins at Xterra Mexico.
It was Osborne's 12th career Xterra World Tour win and his fifth this season, while it's the fourth Xterra major title for Kingsford, her third thisyear.
Osborne said there was a quality field of athletes including reigning Xterra world champion Rom Akerson, 2016 Cross Tri world champion and Olympian Francisco Serrano and Karsten Madsen and Branden Rakita who are second and third respectively on the Pan Am Tour ladder. Madsen finished second in Mexico and Rakita third.
"I had Rom marking me badly, he stood right next to me on the line and was swimming all over me to the first buoy," Osborne said.
"We spent so much time fighting with each other a gap had opened and we were on the wrong side of it. I managed to kick away round the buoy and get myself back up to the front."
I knew it would be make or break in trying to win the Pan-Am Tour. I'd either be well in the fight for it or not.
Mexican elite Arturo Rodriguez was first out of the swim with Osborne and Akerson hot on his heels as they started the bike leg.
"I had a quick transition and went for it to see if I could avoid the situation of having a big group playing a tactical game. It worked well, the race splintered and after 13km Karsten got across to me.
"We rode the climb so hard, knowing Rom was behind and not wanting to let him back in the game if we could help it. Karsten put some big surges in on me nearing the top but never managed to open up a gap."
Xterra Mexico winner Sam Osborne (centre) with second placed Karsten Madsen (left) and third placed Branden Rakita. Photo / Supplied
Osborne had a high-speed crash into a muddy bog during the last 4km but managed to fight back.
"Karsten's a great runner and out split us two weeks ago at another high altitude in Beaver Creek. I got 10 seconds through transition and only out ran him by 22 seconds, it was a painful 10km trying to hold him off."
Before the season started, Osborne highlighted this part of the year as crucial to his long-term goals.
"I knew it would be make or break in trying to win the Pan-Am Tour. I'd either be well in the fight for it or not. With one race to count I'll go into Utah with the lead but still all to play for."
Meanwhile, in the women's race Mexican Sofia Rodrigues, in her Xterra professional debut, had the fastest swim followed by Kingsford, Suzie Snyder from the US, the 2018 Pan Am Tour champion Fabiola Corona of Mexico and Valentina Carvalho from Chile.
As the race transitioned to the hills on the bike, Kingsford and Corona took to the front and it wasn't until the last sections of the bike when Corona got a 50-second gap and was first on to the run. Kingsford showed a great burst of speed in the first 5km to erase that deficit and take the lead, which she held to the finish with a winning time of 2h 49m 33s.
"I didn't feel very good yesterday so I was thinking today would be a shambles," Kingsford said.
"There weren't many punchy climbs and you could get into a good rhythm even though it was extremely muddy. I passed Rodrigues quickly on the bike and Suzie and Fabiola were coming up fast. Fabiola and I stayed together on the bike ... she showed her experience on her home trail.
"Coming into transition I knew I had to keep as close as I could to her and managed to slowly catch her on the run and kept going. Instead of being the hunted, hunting someone down kind of pushes you a bit more."
