Xendurance Athlete Lesley Paterson Earns 1st Place at ITU Cross-Triathlon World Championships/XTERRA Southeast Championships

From – Xtri.com

Great Britain’s Lesley Paterson came from behind with a late surge and passed Melanie McQuaid (CAN) in the final lap of the run to win gold and her first ITU world title. McQuaid, the defending champion who led for much of the race, took silver and Carla Van Huysteen (RSA), bronze.

“I feel great. Training has gone well, prep went well,” said Paterson. “I was feeling energized and ready to rumble. Everything went to plan really. I had a little mechanical on the bike. My chain came off. Everything else went pretty smooth.”

As the afternoon heat descended upon the women, they entered the water with McQuaid leading the first pack after lap 1. By the second lap, South Africa’s Van Huyssteen had overtaken the lead heading into T2 with Michelle Flipo (MEX), Suzie Snyder (USA), McQuaid, and Paterson, following close behind. Shortly into the first lap of the bike, McQuaid moved ahead and built a significant lead which put her more than two minutes ahead of her contenders by the third lap of the bike. Van Huyssteen, Snyder and Paterson remained in the second group behind McQuaid on the bike course heading into the run.

The tide began to turn on the run when Paterson got in stride and inched to 23 seconds off leader McQuaid in the first lap, creating a large margin between her and the second pack which included Van Huyssteen, Snyder and Shonny Vanlandingham. Moving well into the second lap, Paterson shot past McQuaid and never looked back to claim her first ITU World Championship.

1 Paterson, Lesley (GBR) 02:24:39
2 McQuaid, Melanie (CAN) 02:27:15
3 Van Huysteen, Carla (RSA) 02:28:34
4 Snyder, Suzanne (USA) 02:29:14
5 Vanlandingham, Shonny (USA) 02:29:15
6 Kabush, Danelle (CAN) 02:33:03
7 Flipo, Michelle (MEX) 02:33:14
8 Vaughan, Shae (USA) 02:33:27
9 Heisterman, Brandi (CAN) 02:33:50
10 Bucher, Renata (SUI) 02:34:56

Lesley uses Extreme Endurance and Xecute Daily!