Close Wins Iron Will / June Takes Second at Acworth

8/10/08

John Close won the Xterra Iron will by a very comfortable margin of almost 3 minutes and a time of 1:42:22.  John continues to show improvement in all three disciplines and came out of the water in 2nd place.  He traveled from his home in Birmingham Alabama to Oklahoma for the race, and with his first victory, moved up in ranking to #1 in the SE region. 

Being relatively new to Xterra John has found it hard to be patient with his technical bike handling skills, but found this race favorable. “The bike portion of the race was pretty technical in the beginning; I knew if I could stay ahead during the first part, then in the last part, which was more open space and endurance racing, I could take advantage because that is the strongest part of my racing.”

He still faces a National and World Championship this season and remains remarkably well positioned.  More from the Jonesboro Sun...

On the same day Katie June of Team Sport Factory placed 2nd at the Acworth Womens Sprint Tri, missing the win by a narrow margin of 7 seconds.  June finished 2nd to professional triathlete Kim Dunker.  At 15 years of age Katie has placed consistently on the podium this season establishing herself as an up and coming force to be reckoned with.