Garmin Ambassador Wins Second SA Xterra
Hugo wins second SA Xterra title
For the second time in three years Dan Hugo won the South African Xterra title at the grand finale at Grabouw.
Hugo conquered the 1.5km-swim, 25km-mountain bike and 10km-trial run in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 1 second. Fellow South African Kent Horner came in second about 7 minutes later, while German Nico Pfitzenmaier was third.
Hugo started the mountain bike leg a bit behind and that wasn’t part of the plan. He now had to catch up. When Horner and Hugo got to a hike-a-bike section the 24 year old got on his Specialized Epic a few moments before Horner. And that was it.
“I didn’t look back. I rode this route five times in about two weeks.
I knew it backwards. But still I struggled on the day. Because of the heat it was so difficult to concentrate,” said Hugo.
Temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius.
“For the first time ever I stopped at a water point, got off my bike and tried to recover somewhat.” On the run leg there was a stream of water and Hugo used it to cool down his core temperature a bit. Besides the victory and all it meant to him, it was also the first time Hugo competed in his new Specialized kit.
For Hugo the victory was sweet, but the relief was even bigger.
“I wanted this one. I needed this one,” he said on his blog www.dghugo.com.
“My sense of relief was like a wave you didn’t know was building.”
A few days later the relief is still huge.
“There is obviously joy involved, but the event in Grabouw is the big one in South Africa. It’s the important one. One small thing can ruin all the hard work and preparation before hand,” said Hugo.
Hugo is next off to the Sani2c – a multiday mountain bike stage race – and then he will compete with the Team Specialized in the Giro del Capo road stage race. |
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