Great success of the first series XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR

HLUBOKA NAD VLTAVOU September 19 (PROTEXT) - American Jamie Whitmore has reached hat trick of victories at XTERRA races by winning in Titisee in Germany. She became the overall winner of the XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR 2003 series in its first year after achieving three victories. XTERRA off road multisport comprises open water swimming, cycling on a mountain bike in an extreme terrain and cross country running. "It is a great achievement for me and I am very happy because I love Europe, its people and culture", said Whitmore, who comes from California. Royce Kortekaas from Netherlands triumphed in the series among the elite men even though he only crossed the finish line on the fourth place in the last race in Germany. The first place in Germany went to the French athlete Nicolas Lebrun. The German race was the toughest and longest in the series, taking athletes carrying their bikes on their shoulder all the way onto the ski-jump bridge where the ski-jumping world cup will take place in December. XTERRA as a very young sport has become a great success during its eight year existence in America. The first year of XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR has shown the potential of XTERRA to conquer Europe as well. Premiere of the European tour in the sport, which has been returning for annual World Championships to the place of its origin on the island of Maui in the Hawaii Islands for eight years, was a great success. 1200 athletes of all categories and age groups have taken part in the races in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Germany, among them elite professionals such as Jamie Whitmore, last year's World Champion Candy Angle, World Champion in winter triathlon and XTERRA specialist Nicolas Lebrun from France, World Champion in winter triathlon Marc Ruhe from Liechtenstein, bronze medalist in triathlon from Sydney Olympics Jan Rehula, World Champion in cross country skiing Martin Koukal, triathlon legend Rob Barel from the Netherlands. "Many countries, e.g. Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia, have shown their interest in organizing an XTERRA qualifier race in the next year" said the executive manager of XTERRA Europe Michal Pilousek. "We are very glad that XTERRA has captured Europe too and now offers to hundreds of athletes race experience as well as chance to meet people of the same tune and discover beautiful places such as the woods surrounding the historical castle in the Czech republic, sand dunes in Kijkduijn, or steep hills of Schwarzwald" added Dave Nicholas, vice president of the TEAM UNLIMITED, which is the founder and owner of the XTERRA brand. XTERRA now moves to the USA for the races of NISSAN XTERRA USA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES. The XTERRA worldwide series will culminate at the NISSAN XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, which will be held on the island of Maui in the state of Hawaii on 26th October. South African Conrad Stoltz and American Candy Angle will be defending their titles. The winner takes 20.000USD in each category. Overall points standing of XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR 2003: Men: 1. Royce Kortekaas (Netherlands) 247 p 2. Marc Ruhe (Lichtenstein) 219 p 3. Nicolas Lebrun (France) 200 p 4. Ronny Dietz (Germany) 145 p 5. Martin Pejsar (Czech Republic) 110 p. Women: 1. Jamie Whitmore (USA) 300 p 2. Ute Schäfer (Germany) 246 p 3. Katrin Helmcke (Germany) 201 p 4. Ariane Gutknecht (Switzerland) 138 p 5. Joke Keuning (Netherlands) 99 p. Tomáš Nohejl, XTERRA European office - press release Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT