Despite the Tsunami the race went ahead. A hard session of tough racing. Congrats to all the athletes who MARCHed on despite the challenges.

Here is a direct paste of the MARCH Facebook updates as the race unfolded:

Race blog 1

XTERRA has the green light! No tsunami in sight….Photos from the beach show the water relatively calm. The coast guards and surf lifesavers have given it the go ahead.

Race start in 5 mins. The video feeds have just gone live. You can see the athletes lining up on the beach ready for the start of the swim!!

SMASH – it’s race time!!

Race blog 2

They’re out of the water and well in to the bike!

Javier Gomez is leading. You will remember he is fresh from out sprinting Jonathan Brownlee in Auckland, NZ to take out the final race of the World Triathlon Championship (and still clearly charging following his Silver at the Olympics). He has a lead of 1min. Given his supreme running form Javier is looking very dangerous!

Race blog 3

GPS is unstable – the video stream is tricky to sight athletes – and we can’t find any current placings BUT, Richard Ussher looks to be going great guns from the GPS map readings…!

He came out of the water 3 mins behind Gomez and looks to be 1 mile behind on the MTB but it looks like he is in the chasing pack. GPS is showing him in touch with Ben Allen who XTERRA report to be in 2nd place…?!!?

Race blog 4

Yep, the old GPS has crashed again. Fixing a position is becoming complete guess work. Richard Ussher’s position hasn’t now changed for some time. Might be a mechanical but we don’t think so. More likely to be a signal/tracking issue. Impossible to say what’s happening or how he is doing. Knowing Rich he’ll be giving it heaps but his position is now far from clear.

The bike is over half done. The split times at the bike/run transition should clarify things.

Race blog 5

The bike/run transition splits have just come in & it’s looking like a tough old day in the office for Rich. All the usual caveats about dodgy data but the offical stats are showing a bike time that was circa 10 mins off the pace of the leaders.

Combined with the swim deficit it looks like the run is going to be a gritty affair with him having to just press on to get the job done & the agony over.

Come on Rich. We’re behind you however things go!

Race blog 6

As we predicted, Javier Gomez has put the hammer down on the run. He came off the bike 2nd, but has grown those running wings again and flown in to 1st. The man is immense. Race finish less than 10 mins away now!

Race blog 7

XTERRA World Champions Javier Gomez and Lesley Paterson!

They smashed everyone for a well deserved win. Race photos on the finish line show them smiling and holding fine form. Lesley looked to have a strong margin over the second placed female and Javier was our pick from the start for a strong finish. Cracking!

GPS is showing Richard Ussher over the line, but his position will have to await proper classification. He’s not long back from winning Wulong Quest, the multi day stage race in China, so whatever his position he’s banked a big win in the last month.