Layton man wins 2017 XTERRA Trail Run Nationals at Snowbasin
Layton resident Brett Hales and Lesley Paterson of San Diego, California, (via Stirling, Scotland), won the 13th annual XTERRA Trail Run National Championship half-marathon at Snowbasin Resort on Sunday, Sept. 17.
Sunday’s trail run half-marathon was Day 2 of the XTERRA event, with the Pan America off-road triathlon taking place Saturday. Paterson won the women’s side of both the trail run event and the triathlon in consecutive days.
The triathlon included a one-mile swim at Pineview Reservoir, an 18-mile mountain bike ride and a 7-mile run on trails around Snowbasin. The trail-run event also took place on trails around Snowbasin.
For Hales, it was his second win on the half-marathon course in as many tries. He won the challenge in 2014. He finished this year’s half-marathon in 1:17:45, which was a sub-six minute pace over the challenging course. He finished a little more than one minute ahead of runner-up Anthony Costales.
“It was fun, it was good to be back,” Hales said in a release from XTERRA. “It’s always fortunate when you can come back and run on these trails because it’s absolutely one of the best courses.”
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The men’s race began with sub-four minute miler Darren Brown of Massachusetts setting a very brisk pace, one he couldn’t sustain (he ultimately finished sixth).
“You try to get a gauge as to whether they are a legitimate contender or not because no one starts out this hard in a trail race,” Hales said, who caught Brown on the first climb. “I was like, ‘I know what going hard is and this is a little insane,’ so I knew he was going to come back.”
After passing Brown, Hales ran behind Costales on the single track and then put in a surge when the trail opened up before the third mile. “The mountain legs took over and went from there,” Hales said in the release.
In July, Hales ran with a team from the United States in the World Mountain Running Championships in Italy.
Ogden’s Addie Stewart posted the top time for women age 40-44 in the half-marathon at 1:49:05.
For the triathlon and the weekend, Paterson was the buzz. A day after winning the women’s division in the off-road triathlon, the Scotland native came back and won the XTERRA Trail Run National Championship.
Her triathlon time was 2:51:13. On the men’s side, Mauricio Mendez of Mexico won the triathlon with a time of 2:22:50.
XTERRA triathletes are professionals and top performers will next compete in the XTERRA World Championship on Oct. 29 in Kapalua on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
The trail run half-marathon was open to professionals and amateurs.
The competition, which began nearly 30 years ago as a one-off triathlon on a remote island, has grown into a popular endurance sport series. It made its debut in Ogden in 2004 in a race founded and directed by now-mayor Mike Caldwell.


