F286_XterraZone_rr_ce.qxd
12/9/07
7:36 PM
simply did not gel with Weule’s strengths as an athlete. As such, she nearly quit the sport. Instead, however, Weule discovered XTERRA. Weule’s name was synonymous with XTERRA for years. She was fifth at Maui in 1997 after a second place in Kirkwood and a third place at Big Bear. The winning started in 1998 in Louisiana, and she won the next two big races. In her career, Weule won at almost every U.S. XTERRA venue, plus races in the UK and Canada. Her battles from 1997-1999 with Lorraine Barrow and Jody Purcell were wonderful to watch, but during those years she simply could not get it right at Maui. But the new millennium was the key for Weule, as she stood on the top as world champion in 2000. Weule brought much to XTERRA: an open disposition, the ability to share all that she knew at XTERRA University clinics, a great laugh, her cartwheel at the finish line and her blue, painted toenails on race day. Weule retired from XTERRA racing in 2003 while still able to podium anywhere. Today she is a practicing massage therapist. She skis in the winter, still runs or bikes every day but hasn’t swum in years. Maybe it was that mean German coach who got to her many years ago. For her early contributions and influence on the sport, XTERRA salutes Kerstin Weule as the 2007 inductee into the XTERRA Hall of Fame.
Rich Cruse
one until Jamie Whitmore took on the challenge. Weule won 19 XTERRA titles, including the U.S. pro series, in 1999 and 2000, plus the 2000 world championship. Born in Braunlage, Germany, in 1966, Weule credits much of her athletic ability to her parents. “Growing up, they used to drag me to the running track twice a week, where we would perform all kinds of track-and-field disciplines,” says Weule. “Also, the Germans are very well organized . . . where you don’t just practice one main sport but lots of other ones, too. I think all this early activity probably helped me in my coordination and balance.” Weule’s foray into competition started with swimming at age 11. A strict German coach engrained in her the value of hard work, big volume and athletic suffering. By the time Weule was 17, however, swimming wasn’t enough, and she ventured into the original multisport, modern pentathlon, for four years. The triathlon bug finally bit her in 1991, and it shaped her life in big ways. Weule moved to the United States (Colorado, to be exact) because she loved the climate. In 1994, she was ranked fourth in the U.S. among short-course triathletes. In 1996, her involvement in the sport spurred her to become an American citizen. Despite being ranked 17th in the world in 1997, the drafting format of short-course racing on the ITU circuit
Page 139
T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M
|
FEBRUARY 2008
|
T R I AT H L E T E
139