The stories behind a few of the 35 Vail Valley athletes taking on XTERRA Beaver Creek

Thirty-five Eagle County triathletes, including the defending U.S. champions Sullivan Middaugh and Suzie Snyder, will dive into Nottingham Lake Saturday morning as XTERRA Beaver Creek competitors.

The sprint (750-meter swim, 14-kilometer bike, 5-kilometer run) begins at 8 a.m. while the full-distance (750-meter swim, 24-kilometer bike, 9-kilometer run) and full-distance team relay start at 9 a.m. The motivations and aspirations for each individual battling “the Beast at Beaver Creek” are as varied as their ages and abilities.

Luke Herron was inspired to organize an XTERRA “North American tour” with his friend after reading a Vail Daily story on local trail runner Nicholas Fickling this spring. The 72-year-old’s plea — “I hope you get the message that it’s important that we do these things because we enjoy them, not because we are trying to prove something or be something” — convinced Herron to travel to Fajardo, Puerto Rico and Oak Mountain Alabama before his home race.

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“We absolutely love these races and the places it brings us to,” Herron stated. “We have met so many different people who are into off-road triathlon or mountain biking and trail running.”

Herron is convinced that the valley lifestyle “prepares you for these types of races,” but, being new to triathlon, he said his training is still a work in progress.

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“The goal for Saturday is crossing the finish line knowing I put everything I have into the race,” he said.

Paul Stedman is also relatively new to XTERRA. He qualified and competed at the world championships in Molveno, Italy last year — his first year of mountain biking — thanks to a second-place age group finish at Beaver Creek.

“My triathlon background is Ironman events,” he said. “Though, with Josiah Middaugh as my coach and an amazing crew of Vail Valley athletes, it presented a great opportunity to take my triathlon journey off-road and to get into XTERRA. It is also a great way to mix up the variety of training.”

Stedman used the town series mountain bike races to hone his handling skills and race acumen. “Hopefully this will pay off,” he stated, adding that his goal is to “make it down Corkscrew upright, have my best race possible, have fun and enjoy this amazing experience.”

Speaking of the course, few athletes understand how the Beaver Creek trails dictate strategy like Henry Reed. The 52-year-old is making his 11th start.

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“This race is ‘full throttle from the gun,'” said Reed, who has six age-group wins and was a runner-up at the 2021 World Championships in Maui. “It’s about trusting your training, pushing yourself to the limit — and perhaps beyond — and seeing how you perform.”

With 15 starts apiece, Amber Moran, 50 and Dawes Wilson, 70, are the only athletes with more local starts under their belts. Wilson won the 60-64 age group national title when he turned 60 and did the same thing for the 65-69 age group when he turned 65.

“I’m back, having turned 70,” he stated, adding that he took the intervening five years off from running “with the hope of being able to walk with all my original joints at age 80.” He recovered from three surgeries (both eyes, one foot) this spring and has been trying to run, ride and swim as much as possible without getting injured.

“My preparation for this event could only loosely be called training,” he continued. “At my age, just getting to the start line will be a victory.”

Dylan Friday, a top-20 overall finisher last year, coaxed his neighbor, Evan Disser, 45, into this year’s event.

“We have a friendly wager on which of us will have the faster swim time, and whoever wins gets all of the crops from the other’s garden for the rest of the summer,” Friday said. The 29-year-old is hoping to improve his bike split, as an early-summer ankle injury forced him to replace his soccer training with cycling.

“I am curious to find out how this impacted my overall race readiness when running is typically my favorite leg.”

James Kirschner earned his elite license at Oak Mountain earlier this summer and made a satisfying first pro start in Quebec, Canada, finishing seventh.

“My goal for Saturday is to just display 100% of what I am capable of right now,” he said. The full-time Eagle Valley social studies teacher balances a second job working bike valet at Lionshead every Saturday with 12-15-hour training weeks.

“This is my second year putting in such volume and given the small gains race-to-race, the hard work is starting to pay off,” he continued. Kirschner plans on leaning into his altitude training, specifically late in the run portion.

“This will be my second-biggest XTERRA race of my life aside from the 2020 World Championships in Hawaii. I am both excited and nervous to see how things shake out.”

Jennifer Razee, 49, was the 2019 age group world champion, and as she approaches 50, her theme is “Smarter, not harder.”

“It’s tough to be faster at (that age) but I can race, train and recover smarter,” she explained. “I think years of racing endurance sports layers on grit, a deep base of mental fortitude to the finish line and the ability to be grateful for moments of challenge.”

Razee hopes to once again be in the mix with the top amateur women and has been “sharpening the stick” with some shorter town series races after a second-straight podium finish at the Emerald Epic Queen of the Boat competition.

Another former age-group world champion (2021), Mike Dorr, 47 is hungry for redemption on a national level in his ninth Beaver Creek appearance.

“I bonked on the run last year and just came up short,” the Avon athlete stated. In 2019, Dorr won by over 10 minutes in what he considers his best race.

“Training has been good but also work has been busy,” he said. “But, feeling pretty good.”

The valley will be represented in the full-distance team relay event by Robert Shearon, Jason Russell and Alexis Komar.

Shearon and Russell have taken on similar adventures the past few years and did the team race in 2022 and asked Komar — who competed in the solo category two years ago — to join in 2023.

“I love only having to focus on one discipline rather than three,” Russell said. “I have mad respect of the athletes competing solo.”

“I think we are all here to have fun, try our hardest and be safe,” said Russell, the owner of Cairn Construction Group in Edwards. “The journey to get to the start line is where the magic is for me — I love the working out/ training aspect of daily life.”  

Reed said the tightly-knit XTERRA community shares considerable camaraderie in training all year for Saturday, which he called “a celebration of all of our efforts.”

“We’re blessed to have world class trails on which to run and bike in one of the most beautiful settings in the world,” he said. “Racing alongside other like-minded athletes, including many local triathlete friends, makes it extra enjoyable.”

Razee concurred, adding that most of the master’s swim group from the Athletic Club at the Westin are racing Saturday.

“There’s a special bond with those who get in an outdoor pool, year-round in Colorado — before sunrise,” she stated.

Every athlete is eager to be at home, but for different reasons. Dorr appreciates sleeping in his own bed and having familiar faces cheering him on and working aid stations. Herron said the best part about racing in his backyard is the personal history behind every trail.

“Each reminds me of a past experience or creates a new experience,” he said.

“It’s a comfortable feeling racing something you are familiar with and being reminded of the progress you have made on that particular trail or area.”