Coddens, Erbanova win big

Kris Coddens of Belgium and Helena Erbenova of the Czech Republic each posted come from behind wins to capture the third annual XTERRA Greece Championship race at Lake Plastira this afternoon.

There were strong British performances as well from Louise Fox (4th) and Jessica Roberts (5th). This represented a career best performance from Roberts in her debut year as a pro on the XTERRA European circuit.

It’s the first-ever XTERRA major title for Coddens, and for Erbenova, a two-time European Tour Champion, her second big win in three weeks (she won XTERRA Spain on June 7).

In the men’s race Roger Serrano, the XTERRA European Tour points leader through the first four races, took an early lead out of the water but it was last year’s Greece champion Francois Carloni who took control during the bike.

Carloni was first out on the run, followed by Serrano, but Coddens can fly and chased both of them down to take the tape in 2:20:28, 35-seconds ahead of Serrano with Carloni another minute behind in third.

Coddens has come close to the top step before, he was 2nd at XTERRA England last year and second here at XTERRA Greece two years ago, but this was his first signature win.

Top 15 Elite Men
Pl Name Time Points
1 Kris Coddens, BEL 2:20:28 75
2 Roger Serrano, ESP 2:21:03 67
3 Francois Carloni, FRA 2:22:07 61
4 Tomas Jurkovic, SVK 2:24:54 56
5 Tim Van Daele, BEL 2:28:41 51
6 Albert Soley, ESP 2:28:50 47
7 Markus Benesch, AUT 2:29:48 43
8 Tomas Kubek, SVK 2:30:09 39
9 Grigoris Souvatzoglou 2:32:01 36
10 Henry Sleight, GBR 2:32:17 33
Also: Fabrizio Bartoli (30), Llewellyn Holmes (27), Rory Downie (25), Simone Calamai (23), James Walker (21)

In the women’s race it was all Brigitta Poor early on. The XTERRA Malta winner led out of the water and off the bike but Erbenova charged to the front early on the run and took the tape by 45-seconds over Poor with a winning time of 2:44:03.

Success at Lake Plastira is nothing new to Erbenova, a former Winter Olympian and Winter Tri World Champ, who won the inaugural XTERRA Greece Championship title two years ago.

Top 7 Elite Women
Pl Name Time Points
1 Helena Erbenova, CZE 2:44:03 75
2 Brigitta Poor, HUN 2:44:48 67
3 Carina Wasle, AUT 2:46:29 61
4 Louise Fox, GBR 2:56:26 56
5 Jessica Roberts, GBR 3:01:21 51
6 Morgane Riou, FRA 3:01:32 47
7 Deniz Dimaki, GRE 3:20:15 43.

Inspired? Enter XTERRA England taking place on the 30th August here: http://www.xterraengland.com/