{"id":8101,"date":"2021-05-07T09:21:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T09:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=8101"},"modified":"2021-05-07T09:21:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T09:21:37","slug":"lesley-paterson-ready-for-maui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=8101","title":{"rendered":"Lesley Paterson ready for Maui"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Sunday at 9am Hawaii-time, the Scotland born, San Diego-based Lesley Paterson will take to the Pacific waters of Honokahua Bay as one of the favourites to steal Flora Duffy\u2019s crown as the reigning Queen of all-things off road.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Yet Paterson\u2019s journey to the 20th anniversary race of the Xterra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii, has been far from straightforward. Broken bones (x3) and Lymes disease have stood in the way of her race season, but she\u2019s shown the \u2018Braveheart brand\u2019 by battling on; tackling Xterra Costa Rica with one arm and coming third in an 100km MTB race in Tahoe just three weeks after surgery.<\/p>\n

Here the double Xterra world champ and reigning Xterra England winner talks with our friends at Xterra Maui about her love of the off road, swimming 1.5km with one arm and battling Duffy on Sunday\u2026<\/p>\n

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ON\u2026 BEING BACK IN MAUI<\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, I am feeling great. Fit and ready to roll. Just beyond grateful that I\u2019m here and healthy \u2013 I simply cannot put it in to words. This island has so many amazing memories for me and to be back at \u201chome\u201d with my Xterra family is like a dream come true. This is where I feel the love. This is where the magic happens.<\/p>\n

ON\u2026 LYME\u2019S DISEASE AND BROKEN BONES<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an incredible but challenging year so far. I have seriously had highs I\u2019ve never experienced before but then I\u2019ve had absolute soul crushing lows as well. I\u2019m a woman of extremes so this suits me well! I spent November and December of 2014 getting treating for Lyme\u2019s disease in Florida and that brought with it many challenges but also many \u2018ah ha\u2019 moments. I started off 2015 with the lowest fitness I think I\u2019ve ever had but the highest spirit too! I did a combination of Xterra races and US World Cup mountain bike races and almost the first one out of the gate, I managed to break my shoulder!<\/p>\n

ON\u2026 ONE ARM RACING<\/strong><\/p>\n

This led to me competing in Xterra Costa Rica with one arm! 1,500m is a long way with a single arm but I kept positive and ended up biking and running through the field to win. I guess the Braveheart brand is very much alive and kicking! I then spent a month sweating it out on my trainer in the garage, swimming masters with one arm and running with a sling. I came out and won Xterra West and East champs, plus won the overall (beat the boys, too) at the Laguna Beach Xterra\u2026 that was pretty cool!<\/p>\n

ON\u2026 BRUSHING TEETH WITH NO HANDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

My focus was then set on mountain biking and picking up valuable UCI points for Olympic qualification [in mountain biking]. I went on to win my first US Pro MTB race and the week later, days before heading out to Europe for my world cup debut, I crashed out and broke my left wrist and right hand. Devastation again! After surgery I spent the month up in the mountains, back on the trainer, learning how to brush my teeth and wipe my own arse with no hands! Only 11 days after surgery I won the June Lake Triathlon in Mammoth and another week later, came 3rd overall in the Leadville qualifier 100km MTB race in Tahoe. Crazy, I know, but hey, that\u2019s me!<\/p>\n

ON\u2026 SINGLE DISCIPLINE MTB
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I then did my first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race in Windham. I seriously got my ass whooped and struggled to find any form. Determined to give it a good go, I then headed out to Italy for my second World Cup. I managed to go from 65th to 38th and had a blast doing it! This World Cup shit is a helluva journey and one that will take a good few years to master! Finally I finished off the summer with a glorious win at the Xterra European Champs in England (pictured). Joy of all joys!<\/p>\n

ON\u2026 TACKLING FLORA<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a great block of training in San Diego, my sights have been laser focused on being in the best shape possible for Maui. Flora [Duffy] has been simply unbeatable this year so I hope to at least give her a run for her money. She\u2019s an incredible athlete and has motivated me to train harder and stay committed this last few months.<\/p>\n

ON\u2026 XTERRA AND SOUL<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More importantly, though, I\u2019ve realised with all that I have been through, that all I can control is my attitude. I can\u2019t control how anyone else will go on the day, I can\u2019t control what anyone else thinks, but I can control my attitude towards this race. It will be one of joy and celebration. Xterra is my soul and that will never change.<\/p>\n

You can follow the 20th Xterra World Championships online at www.xterramaui.com, on twitter @xterraoffroad and on Facebook.com\/xterraplanet starting at 9am Hawaii time (7pm UK time). 220 Tri magazine has a nine page Xterra special in issue 320, out on 8th December.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Images: Light Trapper<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Sunday at 9am Hawaii-time, the Scotland born, San Diego-based Lesley Paterson will take to the Pacific waters of Honokahua Bay as one of the favourites to steal Flora Duffy\u2019s crown as the reigning Queen of all-things off road. Advertisement Yet Paterson\u2019s journey to the 20th anniversary race of the Xterra World Championships in Maui,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}