This was always going to be part of his ‘fun year’ after a stressful injury-affected Olympic year in 2016, but Richard Murray still won another South African Xterra Championships title… after a fierce battle against defending champion Bradley Weiss.

Murray who narrowly missed out on the podium at the Rio Olympics, won in Grabouw, covering the 1500-metre swim, 26km mountain bike and 12.5km-run in 2hr 22min 46sec. Weiss finished second in 2:23:05 and Stuart Marais (2:24:42) took the last spot on the winner’s podium.

‘I just wanted to come and have some fun, to be honest,’ said Murray. ‘Now I have a second Xterra title. My only senior SA titles are at Xterra, because I’ve never won a triathlon South African Championship. To win today against some quality athletes really means a lot,’ said Murray, who won his first Xterra and SA senior title in 2013.

Murray’s victory didn’t come easy, having been caught up in a game of cat and mouse with reigning champion Weiss.  Murray came out of the water as the first pro-athlete and left transition one with a slight lead over Weiss.

‘I took it easy on the bike. Bradley caught me in the first 6km. Four years ago Conrad Stoltz only caught me on the 12km mark, so I was very worried. Bradley then punctured at 10 or 12km, but caught me again at round about the 18km mark. Going into the run I thought I’d catch him sooner than I did.

‘He is really quick on the up-hills. I’d catch him, only to have him pull away on the hills. I caught him again on the last climb and pushed really hard on the downhill to get away.

‘I actually didn’t want to overdo it on the run, because I’m racing next week at the WTS Abu Dhabi. But I definitely went harder than planned. After passing Brad I tried not to look back, but he kept so close. I was pretty concerned that he would catch me right up until the very end.’

Murray got really excited about his battle against Weiss. ‘I thought that if I get pushed today, I would not respond, but Bradley pushed all the right buttons. I decided that to not push myself because I’m racing next week would not be right. I had to give my all today and I could not be happier.

‘I must give massive credit to Bradley. He has come a long way and would more than likely have beaten me today had he not punctured on the mountain bike.’

With his victory Murray qualified for the World Championships on the island of Maui, Hawaii in October. ‘I would like to go and rectify that 12th place of 2013. But it is a crazy year before then so lets see what happens.’

Murray is now off to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for the first WTS race of the season.

– See more at: http://www.sascoc.co.za/2017/02/26/tough-battle-but-olympian-murray-wins-another-xterra-title/#sthash.pD5juzzg.dpuf