maui 2009 press guide - Xterra

THE XTERRA HALL OF FAME
When XTERRA celebrated its 10th year in October of 2005,
the founders created the XTERRA HALL OF FAME. This year,
on the eve of the XTERRA World Championship on the luau
grounds of the Maui Prince, another XTERRA legend will be
honored in front of their peers at the night of champions dinner.
NED OVEREND (2005)
After retiring from mountain biking in 1996 at the age of 40 (he won six national titles and became mountain
bikings first world champion in 1990), Overend competed in the first-ever XTERRA in 1996, finishing third. In ‘97
he was second, and in ‘98 and ‘99 he won consecutive World Championships at the ripe young age of 42 & 43. He
was also the XTERRA USA Series Champion in 2002. At the 2004 World Championship, at age 50, Overend
posted the 9th fastest bike split and placed 21st overall. Midway through the bike course Peter Reid was overheard
saying “There’s a 50-year-old in front of me!”
As an XTERRA pro, Ned regularly beat the spandex off guys 10 and 15 years his junior. He was so devastating
on the mountain bike that he earned the nicknames of “Deadly Nedly” and “The Lung.” At the end of his XTERRA
career, race commentators respectfully called him “The Old Man of the Mountain.”
SCOTT TINLEY (2006)
Scott Tinley was named the second inductee into the XTERRA Hall of Fame. In 1996, Scott competed in XTERRA's
inaugural event, known as Aquaterra at the time. That day, he finished in 4th place and went on to finish in the top
10 in both 1997 and '98. But more than just an athlete, Scott was one of the early ambassadors for the sport. Tinley
was at the sharp end of getting athletes to Maui. When you look at the high level pro's that came 10 years ago, it
is far more impressive than what one, solitary, unusual race with a $5,000 prize list should have attracted. Jimmy
Riccitello, Mike Pigg, Wes Hobson, Ray Browning, Pat Brown, Scott Molina, Emilio Desoto, Jeff Devlin, Kenny Glah,
Paul Huddle, Michellie Jones, Paula Newby, Sian Welch, Karen Smeyers and more I probably can't remember. A
lot of that participation is because of ST. Tinley also campaigned in the Hawaiian Mountain Tour bike race in Hawaii
to promote XTERRA and near the end of his career, he helped found and develop the sport of off-road triathlon.
KERSTIN WEULE (2007)
Kerstin Weule, using equally deadly swim, mountain bike and run speed, won more XTERRA races than anyone
(until Jamie Whitmore took on the challenge). She won 19 XTERRA titles, including the US. Pro Series in 1999
and 2000, and the 2000 World Championship. Born in Braunlage, Germany in 1966, Weule’s name was synonymous
with XTERRA for years. She was 5th at Maui in 1997 after a second in Kirkwood and a third at Big Bear. The
winning started in 1998 in Louisiana and she won the next two big races. In her career, Kerstin won at almost every
U.S. venue where XTERRA traveled too, including races in the UK and Canada. Her early battles in 97-98 and 99
with Lorraine Barrow and Jody Purcell were wonderful to watch. Weule brought much to XTERRA – an open
disposition, the ability to share all that she knew at XTERRA University clinics, a great laugh, her cartwheel at the
finish line, & blue painted toenails on raceday. Kerstin retired from XTERRA in 2003.
JIMMY RICCITELLO (2008)
Flash back to 1996… AquaTerra…the first XTERRA…123 Speedo-clad racers on the start line at dawn on the
beach in Wailea, Maui. A who’s who of triathlon and mountain biking showed up to try something completely
new…off-road triathlon. And, it turned out that XTERRA with its catch phrase “Your toughest competitor is Mother
Nature” was right up Riccitello’s alley. He took the inaugural XTERRA World Championship by more than three
minutes over triathlon great Mike Pigg. After the win, he said “Man this race is a bitch, but it’s the true spirit of
triathlon – the athlete against the course”. Over seven years Riccitello raced XTERRA all over the U.S., including
six more Maui World Championships, and was always the life of the party. Fellow athletes, XTERRA University students,
and event staff alike were subjected to his less than politically correct opinions, quick wit, bodily sounds, and
practical jokes.