Conquering Challenges and Redemption: Kieran McPherson's Journey at Xterra World Cup

August 12-13th marked race 6 and 7 of the inaugural Xterra World Cup. Held at Ktissky lake, not far from the historic town of Prachatice in the Czech Republic.

The main race held on Saturday was action packed with multiple world title and contenders and over 50 male professional starters. The cold swim was three laps with a pontoon dive in-between so the huge crowd could view all of the athletes.

"I had a good first lap of the swim settling in with the front group but my body started to feel the effects of jetlag only arriving a few days before the race from America. The next too laps were tough drifting back to the second pack"

The technical bike course with a mix of forest, rocks, tree roots saw multiple top ranked athletes crash out of the race with only the most concentrated making in to the centre of town for transition two to the run.

"I forgot to pack my bike legs today and struggled early on to find rhythm. I enjoyed the technical downhill and managed to hold a good race position"

The hilly forest run course was survival mode for most of the athletes after a long and hard fought race. The finish was in the middle of the town square with hundreds of screaming race fans.

"I was happy to make it to the finish line today. It was far from my best performance and shows the quality of athletes in the new World Cup races"

The short track race on Sunday showed who had recovered the best from the days battle before. Broadcast across Europe on television and Live Streamed across the globe short track racing is the most exciting format of Xterra.

"Today was a bit of redemption from the main race. My amazing white CCN trisuit stood out from the crowd and helped me to finish the weekend strongly just outside of the top 10"