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Pressure rises in homestretch
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Posted on Mar 20 2012
The streaking Renata Bucher admitted feeling the heat going into this weekend’s 2012 XTERRA Saipan Championship.
“The pressure is on and it comes in my favorite race—XTERRA Saipan,” said Bucher, who won XTERRA Guam and Philippines this month. “This is where I started my career.”
Bucher arrived on Saipan yesterday after competing in Guam and the Philippines for the first two legs of XTERRA Asia’s Triple Crown. Joining her in the women’s field for the last stop of the trifecta are Austria’s Carina Wasle, United Kingdom’s Jacqui Slack, and Saipan’s very own, Mieko Carey.
Bucher admitted she love to win the “Triple Crown,” and it will not be easy, judging from the results in the Guam and Philippine races. In Guam, Bucher benefited from a Slack’s wrong bike turn to finish the race at the 2:47:25 mark. Slack timed in at 3:07:10 , while Wasle submitted 3:02:26. In the Philippines, it was Wasle’s turn to have a bad break, as she had disastrous flat tires and ended up clocking in at 4:46:17 for fourth place. Slack had a neck-and-neck battle with Bucher after the swim and bike legs, before the Swiss pro managed to hang on for the win, timing in at 2:53:33, just about three minutes ahead of the U.K. bet (2:56:39).
“Carina will be super hungry for this race after placing second in Guam and then having a bad race in the Philippines. She beat me last year, so that’s added pressure,” said Bucher, who had his six-year reign here ending last season after finishing only third behind Vanlandingham and Wasle.
“As for Jacqui, she is a dark horse and I am sure she will be a big challenge for me and Carina this weekend. Also, don’t count Mieko out. She stayed here and has the best knowledge of the course and had good recovery time after XTERRA Guam,” the 34-year-old triathlete said.
“Competing in the Triple Crown is a big challenge for all of us. Traveling, racing, recovering, organizing, eating, sleeping, finding the course for pre-ride and pre run, attending press conferences, giving updates for family and friends back home, doing bike checks… These are a lot of big jobs,” Bucher added.
