Over the last two years on the XTERRA America Tour the 23-year-old from Stellenbosch, South Africa (the same hometown as Conrad Stoltz) finished in the top 4 in seven straight races including three runner-ups, but today the sports youngest and brightest star found the top step for the first time.
"It sure did help that Josiah (Middaugh) and Mike (Vine) weren't here and Conrad got a puncture, but it's a great start and I'm super excited," said the ever-humble Hugo.
Hugo came out of the swim in the incredibly gorgeous Lake Pend Oreille (the 5th deepest lake in the U.S. at 1,158-feet) with the lead pack that included Stoltz, Craig Evans, Seth Wealing, and Christine Jeffrey in just over 22 minutes.
As planned, Hugo stuck on Stoltz' wheel until about three-quarters of the way through the first of two 11-mile loops on the bike when a nail lodged itself sideways through Stoltz' tire and Hugo found himself all alone in front, where he stayed the rest of the way.
"It was a great day, I had good legs," said Hugo, who clocked the quickest bike split in 1:19:36, a full three minutes better than Nico Lebrun's' 1:22. "The bike was super fast, magically fast and furious and the run was spectacular. Heading along the lake was breathtaking and the technical footing made it perhaps the most interesting run I've seen on the circuit."
By the end of the first loop Hugo had put three minutes on Wealing, Evans, and Branden Rakita and extended that gap to more than five minutes by the bike-to-run transition. Behind him Rakita moved into second heading into the run, followed by Lebrun, Wealing, Evans, and then Stoltz another minute back.
Lebrun, the 3-time XTERRA European Tour and 2005 XTERRA World Champ, put down the fastest run of the day - a 40:43 10k - to pass Rakita and finish second (his best result this season). Wealing had the second-best run to finish in third, Rakita held on for a career-best fourth and Stoltz ran past Evans to finish fifth.
In the women's race "Big Fish" Jeffrey put nearly three minutes on McQuaid during the swim and held the lead through the first lap of the bike where McQuaid was 1:30 back, but by the bike-to-run transition McQuaid - boosted by the best bike of the day (1:33:31) - was more than four minutes in front.
Danelle Kabush made up a minute on Jeffrey to finish in 2nd (her best of the year), and Jeffrey was 3rd to make it an all-Canadian top three. "Canadians rule, ehh," said Jeffrey.
The 39-year-young Jenny Tobin had the fastest run of the day to work herself into fourth, and Emma Garrard rounded out the top 5.
The venue at Farragut State Park was unanimously approved as being one of the prettiest, most pristine, and incredibly beautiful places on earth and as outdoor enthusiasts nationwide celebrated the 17th Annual National Trails Day - the XTERRA Tribe did so in style in the Pacific Northwest.
| TOP PRO MEN | ||||||
| Pl | Name | Age | Hometown | Time | Pts | Purse |
| 1 | Dan Hugo | 23 | Stellenbosch, South Africa | 2:25:32 | 100 | $1,800 |
| 2 | Nico Lebrun | 35 | Digne, France | 2:29:38 | 90 | $1,250 |
| 3 | Seth Wealing | 30 | Boulder, Colorado | 2:31:20 | 82 | $800 |
| 4 | Branden Rakita | 28 | Manitou Springs, Colorado | 2:33:19 | 75 | $500 |
| 5 | Conrad Stoltz | 35 | Stellenbosch, South Africa | 2:34:03 | 69 | $400 |
| 6 | Craig Evans | 31 | Spring Hill, Tennessee | 2:36:13 | 63 | $300 |
| 7 | Ryan Ignatz | 30 | Boulder, Colorado | 2:36:20 | 58 | $200 |
| 8 | Jasper Blake | 35 | Victoria, B.C., Canada | 2:37:42 | 53 | |
| 9 | Cody Waite | 30 | Lakewood, Colorado | 2:38:16 | 49 | |
| 10 | Brendan Halpin | 25 | Missoula, Montana | 2:40:29 | 45 | |
| Also: Will Kelsay (41), Adam Jensen (37), Matt Boobar (34), JeffSmith (31) | ||||||
| TOP 10 PRO WOMEN | ||||||
| Pl | Name | Age | Hometown | Time | Pts | Purse |
| 1 | Melanie McQuaid | 35 | Victoria, B.C., Canada | 2:51:10 | 100 | $1,800 |
| 2 | Danelle Kabush | 34 | Canmore, Alberta, Canada | 2:52:50 | 90 | $1,250 |
| 3 | Christine Jeffrey | 36 | Guelph, Ontario, Canada | 2:55:46 | 82 | $800 |
| 4 | Jenny Tobin | 39 | Boise, Idaho | 2:57:53 | 75 | $500 |
| 5 | Emma Garrard | 27 | Truckee, California | 2:59:05 | 69 | $400 |
| 6 | Rebecca Dussault | 28 | Crested Butte, Colorado | 3:05:22 | 63 | $300 |
| 7 | Tracy Thelen | 29 | Colorado Springs, Colorado | 3:07:21 | 58 | $200 |
| 8 | Erin Kummer | 24 | Boulder, Colorado | 3:11:27 | 53 | |
| 9 | Alexendra Borrelly | 33 | Digne, France | 3:13:27 | 49 | |
| 10 | Jennifer Luebke | 23 | Missoula, Montana | 3:14:54 | 45 | |
| Also: Jari Kirkland (41) | ||||||
CUP SERIES STANDINGS
Halfway through the 8-stop XTERRA Cup Series Conrad Stoltz and Melanie McQuaid remain on top. With the win, Dan Hugo leapfrogged past Josiah Middaugh and Mike Vine into second place while Nico Lebrun moved into the top 5 with his runner-up performance today. In the women's chase McQuaid stays perfect, and Emma Garrard (who equaled her career best with a 5th place finish today) jumped past Shonny Vanlandingham and Renata Bucher into the No. 2 spot. Christine Jeffrey moved up two places into 5th.
| 2009 XTERRA CUP SERIES STANDINGS (After 4) | ||||||
| Pl | Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| 1 | Conrad Stoltz | 100 | 100 | 100 | 69 | 369 |
| 2 | Dan Hugo | 82 | 75 | 75 | 100 | 332 |
| 3 | Josiah Middaugh | 90 | 82 | 90 | DNS | 262 |
| 4 | Mike Vine | 75 | 90 | 82 | DNS | 247 |
| 5 | Nico Lebrun | DNF | 69 | 69 | 90 | 228 |
| 6 | Branden Rakita | 45 | 53 | 53 | 75 | 226 |
| 7 | Craig Evans | 49 | 49 | 63 | 63 | 224 |
| 8 | Seth Wealing | 37 | 63 | DNS | 82 | 182 |
| 9 | Cody Waite | 34 | 41 | 58 | 49 | 182 |
| 10 | Will Kelsay | 31 | 31 | 49 | 41 | 152 |
| 11 | Jasper Blake | 69 | DNS | DNS | 53 | 122 |
| 12 | Matt Boobar | DNS | 34 | 45 | 34 | 113 |
| 13 | Brian Smith | 53 | 58 | DNS | DNS | 111 |
| 14 | Ryan Ignatz | 41 | DNS | DNS | 58 | 99 |
| 15 | Steve Larsen | 63 | DNS | DNS | DNS | 63 |
| 16 | Jeff Smith | 28 | DNS | DNS | 31 | 59 |
| 17 | Justin Thomas | 58 | DNS | DNS | DNS | 58 |
| 18 | Ryan DeCook | DNP | 45 | DNS | 45 | |
| 20 | Brendan Halpin | DNS | DNS | DNS | 45 | 45 |
| 21 | Scott Gall | DNS | 37 | DNS | DNS | 37 |
| 22 | Adam Jensen | DNS | DNS | DNS | 37 | 37 |
| Pl | Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| 1 | Melanie McQuaid | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 400 |
| 2 | Emma Garrard | 63 | 58 | 69 | 69 | 259 |
| 3 | Renata Bucher | 75 | 90 | 82 | DNS | 247 |
| 4 | Shonny Vanlandingham | 90 | 75 | 75 | DNS | 240 |
| 5 | Christine Jeffrey | 69 | 82 | DNS | 82 | 233 |
| 6 | Danelle Kabush | 49 | DNS | 58 | 90 | 197 |
| 7 | Jenny Smith | 53 | 69 | 63 | DNS | 185 |
| 8 | Alexandra Borrelly | 31 | 53 | 45 | 49 | 178 |
| 9 | Lesley Paterson | 82 | DNS | 90 | DNS | 172 |
| 10 | Erin Kummer | DNS | 49 | 49 | 53 | 151 |
| 11 | Jari Kirkland | 28 | 63 | DNS | 41 | 132 |
| 12 | Rebecca Dussault | 58 | DNS | DNS | 63 | 121 |
| 13 | Jenny Tobin | 45 | DNS | DNS | 75 | 120 |
| 14 | Tracy Thelen | 34 | DNS | DNS | 58 | 92 |
| 15 | Kristy Lanier | DNS | DNS | 53 | DNS | 53 |
| 16 | Jennifer Luebke | DNS | DNS | DNS | 45 | 45 |
| 17 | Ingrid Rolles | 41 | DNS | DNS | DNS | 41 |
| 18 | Sari Anderson | 37 | DNS | DNS | DNS | 37 |
| 1 = Loews XTERRA West Cup - May 2 | ||||||
| 2 = XTERRA Midwest Cup - May 17 | ||||||
| 3 = XTERRA Southeast Cup - May 23 | ||||||
| 4 = XTERRA Northwest Cup - June 6 | ||||||
The XTERRA Northwest Cup was the fourth of eight big XTERRA Cup championship races in the nationwide XTERRA America Tour that boasts 60 races in 32 states, and culminates in Utah at the XTERRA USA Championship on Sept. 26.
AMATEUR RACE: Canada's "Coach Cal" Zaryski won the amateur overall in two hours, 40 minutes (he also won the XTERRA West Cup amateur title) while Rosemarie Gerspache won the women's amateur crown 3:02:07. More details on the age group winners and who qualified for the XTERRA World Championship in Maui will be released in the next XTERRA newsletter.
Next up: XTERRA Atlantic Cup at Brown's Island in downtown Richmond, Virginia on June 14.
The 2009 XTERRA Northwest Cup is presented by Paul Mitchell and XTERRA.TV. National sponsors include GU, Rodale, XTERRAGear.com, Zorrel, Gatorade, Choice Hotels, and the Utah Sports Commission. The XTERRA Northwest Cup is part of the inaugural Adventure Sports Week at Farragut State Park featuring 24 races and more than 1,000 athletes, June 5-14.
