Tim Sprinkle

XTERRA East Championships – Richmond, VA

Adventure Sports magazine
August 2004

Becky Bashton, 25, Mechanicsville, Virginia

Local favorite Becky Bashton certainly knows how to win in Richmond - this year marked her third consecutive finish atop the hometown race - but heading into the 2004 competition things were decidedly different. For starters, she had spent the better part of 2003 fighting back from a knee injury sustained last summer; so not only was she the returning champ, she was just happy to be able to compete.

"Going in, I really didn't know how I was going to do," she said, recalling the months of training and recovery she went through to get back into racing shape. "It was tougher that it had been before. I didn't feel as well prepared and I didn't know how my knee was going to hold up in the race."

Needless to say, things worked out OK. The full-time secretary came out of the water in a dead heat with eventual second place finisher Elizabeth Volmer. They battled through the transition and the early parts of the bike stage before Bashton managed to pull ahead. By the time it was all over, nearly five minute separated the two.

"The course was pretty much the same as in past years," she said, "but it was good that we had to swim this time. It was a small loop; kinda crowded, kinda crazy, but it was definitely a challenge." The swim stage was omitted in 2003 due to high water.

Bashton also enjoyed something of a celebrity status for her fourth Richmond XTERRA triathlon. Appearing on the cover of the local news weekly with her mother and younger sister (who also compete in XTERRA), she found herself caught up in a "media circus" leading up to the race.

"It's been wild having people come up to me on the street to wish me luck," she says, "but it was really nice to have that this year; it seems like everyone saw it."

So what about going pro?

"That is the goal," she says, "but my knee's still kind of talking to me, so I'm just going to have to wait and see how it goes."

Tim Menoher, 33, Erlanger, Kentucky

For Tim Menoher, the triathlon breaks down three ways: the run, the bike, and the grueling, grueling swim. It makes sense, considering that the pharmaceutical sales representative/professional duathlon racer spends most of his time training for land-based events, but it can make for a jittery start come race day at XTERRA.

"I'm really more of a natural runner," he said, "so the swim stage has always been tough for me. I've been working on it, and I really got lucky with my swim today, but I think it kind of helped that we had about a mile run back to the transition stage. I was able to get around some of the traffic there and got a big confidence boost heading onto the bike."

From there, he spent most of the race mixing it up with the pros; keeping pace with the leaders and just trying to hold on. But knowing how to get it done during the land stages paid off, and he entered the last transition in solid position near the top of the field.

"At that point I kind of knew that if I could have a clean run I could probably finish first amateur," he said. "It wasn't that hard of a run; it was good, but I definitely worked hard. There were a lot of great guys out there and any one of them could have beaten me. But I think that one mile run [to the transition] helped me tremendously."

In the end, he managed to keep it together and take home top amateur honors for the second year in a row.

And there's no questioning his prowess on the running stage. In what was perhaps his most impressive achievement of the day, Menoher posted the third fastest time in the 10k run, less than two minutes off winner Sylvain Dodet's blistering 34-minute pace.

Even so, it's the water stage that still stands between Menoher and a professional XTERRA bid.

"Going pro is still the plan, but I've got to improve my swim first," he said. "But I'm working on it; we'll get there."