Despite the fact that he only had two Xterra off road races to his credit – one in Whistler back in August of 2000, and the U.S. Finals in Lake Tahoe two weeks ago – Whistler’s Lucas Curran was determined to make a name for himself in the Xterra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii, on Oct. 14.
An accomplished mountain biker, he spend a few months prior to the U.S. finals working on his swimming and running, but in the end it was his cycling that made the 25 year old competitive.
Curran finished 17 th overall out of 44 competitors in the pro category and was the number two Canadian, behind national mountain bike team member Andreas Hestler, who finished 13 th .
Curran got off to a slow start in the 1.5 kilometre swim component, climbing out of the Pacific Ocean in 39 th place.
Back on his bike, however, he passed almost 30 competitors to finish with the fourth fastest time.
He fell back on the run portion with the fifth slowest time, but he was still far enough ahead after the bike ride finish in the top 20.
