Laura O'Meara, featured recently on WTB's Rad People Who Ride Series, just stormed her way to a 6th place finish at the XTerra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii. She swam, mountain biked, and trail ran her way past the world's best to 6th place in the Women's Amateur 30-34 Division. Laura pounded out the 1 mile rough water swim, 20 mile shred fest of single and double track with 3100 feet of climbing, and technical trail run over and under fallen trees. Those of you who are head-scratching because I'm describing running as technical and I'm going into detail on attributes of swimming, well, you caught me, WTB's a bike company but XTerra is exhausting just to read about. let alone compete in it.
Trail side views. Some parts of the course were barely wider than standard handlebars, makes passing a little tricky brushing the Maui greenery.
Despite wadded up grass in her derailleur, Laura made quick work of the 3100 feet of climbing before pounding out the run. Nano 2.1 29" TCS tires mounted tubelessly (that can't be a word yet) to svelte Frequency i19 29" TCS rims kept her rolling smoothly, quickly, and drag free despite the tight course. The run, however, left Laura a little tired:
Too much Weir, Beer, Gear. Can't say Laura leaves anything behind on the course. While some would think someone had too good of a time at Weir, Beer, Gear this past Sunday, the astute would note the number on Laura's left shoulder. Laura gave the XTerra her all, congrats Laura! This may be an I'd rather be schralping singletrack type of moment for Laura.
3 hours and 49 minutes was Laura's finishing time and she had the fourth fastest overall amateur female time for the swim. Not so shabby.
That's the look of pre-race enthusiasm. Look out XTerra, here comes Laura!
So, while many of us were enjoying beer, looking at sweet slides or perhaps jumping in the bouncy house at Weir, Beer, and Gear this past Sunday, Laura was pinning it against the clock, once again giving it her all. Worry not, she'll be darting through Redwoods on her 29er before you know it.