Scotland’s 2011 and 2012 XTERRA World Champion, Lesley Paterson, has today announced she’ll be making a racing return to the UK and will be competing at the inaugural XTERRA England Championships in Cranleigh, Surrey on the 8th September.
U.S-based Lesley Paterson is the marquee addition to what is already a world-class field that includes the likes of multiple XTERRA champion Jacqui Slack, former World Champion Nico Lebrun, the 2x Asia-Pacific Triple Crown Champion Ben Allen and 8x XTERRA Champion Sam Gardner.
The news that Lesley Paterson will race the XTERRA England Championships came soon after she sealed another title at the XTERRA East America Championships last weekend. This marked Paterson’s sixth consecutive victory, which included that historic second world title claimed in Maui, Hawaii, last October.
Paterson said:
“I’m excited to be racing at XTERRA England. I’m a British lassie at heart so to come and compete back home is simply amazing, not to mention the opportunity to be a part of helping grow XTERRA at home – it is such an amazing sport.
“I’d love to win this race and will do everything to make this happen. You can never count anyone out in this sport, but I think I will have a particularly tough race against Jacqui Slack. I’ve been super impressed with her this year and she is a big contender!”
World Champion Lesley Paterson has the following tip for first-timers:
Just relax. On a mountain bike, when you approach something fearful, you tense up. The handling then gets stiff and you could make a mistake, that's when the falls and crashes come. Basically let go and you can do it!
As well as the XTERRA England Championship triathlon, the weekend of off-road sport also includes a ‘Try-an-Xtri’ sprint triathlon, 6-hour mountain bike race and 1.5km and 3km open water swims that are part of the H2open Water Swim Series. The event is being televised on Ch4, with regular repeats on the Ch4 network, Sky Sports and Eurosport throughout 2013 and 2014.
You can enter the XTERRA England race and all the other races occurring over the 7-8th September XTERRA England Championship Weekend here: http://xterra-england.co.uk/
View a course guide filmed by pro-triathlete and course designer Sam Gardner here: http://youtu.be/Cx3W8nYLmQk
