LLANOS & McQUAID WIN IN MAUI * Each earn $20,000 at the 8th Annual Nissan Xterra World Championship

WAILEA (Maui, Hawai Islands) October 29 (PROTEXT) - Eneko Llanos (26, of Spain) and Melanie McQuaid (30, of Canada) won their respective pro divisions at the 8th annual Nissan Xterra World Championship at the Wailea Marriott Resort in Maui today. Llanos had the second-fastest swim split (behind amateur Jan Sibbersen of Germany, who also had the fastest swim in Ironman last week) and the second-best bike (behind Steve Larsen) before heading out on to the run where he set the course record last year. His winning time of 2:32:56 was more than three-and-a-half minutes better than Nicolas LeBrun of France. While both Llanos (who also won the ITU Long Distance World Championship) and LeBrun (who won XTERRA races in Virginia, Germany, and the Czech Republic this year) were among the favorites. Despite that he moved from 32nd out of the water to tied for first heading out on to the run. He once again had the fastest bike split, more than three-minutes better than Llanos in 1:27:47. At the bike-to-run transition Llanos got in-and-out much quicker than Larsen and went hard and fast to create a gap. "I tried to start fast so I could put some time on him so he couldn't see me.my strategy," said Llanos. In the women's race McQuaid put the exclamation point on what has been an impressive few years of racing XTERRA. "It was a magic day for me," said McQuaid, who set the course record in 2:57:08 despite incredibly hot conditions. Both McQuaid and runner-up Whitmore suffered on the run and needed medical attention to get re-hydrated. Whitmore had a great race and a great season, with seven wins in nine races, but the world title is still the missing link. Candy Angle, to successfully defend her title, was unable to do so but had a solid day to finish in third. The Maui course, considered XTERRA's toughest and most demanding, consisted of a 1.5-kilometer rough water swim at Wailea Beach, a grueling 30-kilometer mountain bike ride up the slopes of Haleakala (the worlds largest dormant Volcano), and an 11-kilometer trail run from Makena beach to Wailea. The race was filmed for 2004 a one-hour feature show will be produced for European syndication. 2003 Nissan Xterra World Championship Race Results TOP 5 PRO MEN Pl/ Name/Age/Hometown/Final Time/Purse 1/Eneko Llanos/26/Victoria-Gasteiz, Spain/2:32:56/$20,000 2/Nicolas LeBrun/30/Villeneuve-Loubet, France/2:36:31/$10,000 3/Justin Thomas/28/Fairfax, Virginia/2:37:31/$7,000 4/Jason Chalker/29/Sydney, Australia/2:38:22/$4,000 5/Steve Larsen/33/Bend, Oregon/2:38:50/$2,500 TOP 5 PRO WOMEN Pl/Name/Age/Hometown/Final Time/Purse 1/Melanie McQuaid/30/Victoria, Canada/2:57:08/$20,000 2/Jamie Whitmore/27/Elk Grove, California/2:59:10/$10,000 3/Candy Angle/34/Weymouth, Massachusetts/3:06:09/$7,000 4/Raeleigh Rogers/35/Waramanga, Australia/3:10:43/$4,000 5/Jenny Tobin/34/Boise, Idaho/3:11:10/$2,500 Contact: Silvie Prochazkova xterra@xterraeurope.com 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