I spoke to Sari on the phone tonight and she happily reported that she finished in 9th place in the overall women’s standings at the XTERRA National Championships in Tahoe today. She finished in third place among the American women.
It was apparently pretty cold and windy there (it snowed in CO today) and there was a decent-sized chop on Lake Tahoe. It sounded pretty intimidating to me, especially since Sari has only done two open water swims before. Nonetheless, Sari stayed calm and finished her swim much better than she expected. Once on the mountain bike, Sari was able to pass a lot of people and climb her way into the top ten. She hit a big rock on one of the final descents that nearly taco-ed her wheel, but she held it together and came into transition 2 alongside her friend Jenny Tobin. Jenny is a super runner and turned in one of the day’s fastest run splits, but Sari held her own and finished just behind her for 9th place overall.
Sari was very happy to finish in the top ten of a women’s field that included some of the best pros from around the world. Not bad for her third (summer) XTERRA race ever!
Melanie McQuaid won the women’s race and Mike Vine won for the men. Our friend Stephen White from Vail won his age group in the amateur race and Toni Axelrod got second in her division. All in all, a great race from the Colorado contingent!
More tomorrow,
Ian and Juniper
SariAnderson.com 
nice job! And ooh there’s an amateurs division! Maybe someday……
you kick ass!!!
Way to go!!!
Hey Sari,
Great job in Tahoe, wish I could have stayed with you longer! BTW your time from this year would probably put you in the top 3 last year.
Maui’s great but the course is not as memorable as Tahoe in my opinion, but at least warm, if not too warm. It takes a lot more out of me, maybe cause I’m not used to heat. Hear United’s has some cheap ticket if you’re quick.
Hope you enjoyed the Tahoe race as much as I do.
Emma
congrats sari! that makes you one step closer to me! it’s hot, hot, hot here…