Smyth, Mattox repeat at XTERRA Trail Run

Patrick Smyth of Santa Fe, N.M., and Kimber Mattox of Eugene, Ore., both retained their XTERRA Trail Run World Championship half-marathon titles Sunday at Kualoa Ranch.

Smyth, who has won the event three years in a row, completed the race in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 16 seconds Daniel Jones of Whakatane, New Zealand, placed second in 1:22:20 and Alex Pilcher of Derby, Great Britain, was third in 1:28:30.

“The first bit at the start is good running, even though it’s uphill, because it has good footing and it’s double track and you can kind of get rolling,” Smyth said. “I just tried to go out hard and put the hurt on early and then hold on and hope I didn’t overcook it. It’s nice to have the lead, especially on the back side. ”

Mattox crossed in 1:36:44 and was followed by Kailua’s Polina Carlson in 1:40:24 and Penelope Freedman of Steamboat Springs, Colo., in 1:47:18.

“Last year, I imagined I was being chased by dinosaurs, but this year I got some advice to pretend I was the dinosaur, so I did,” Mattox said. “It was like Polina and I were the girl dinosaurs trying to chase down the boy dinosaurs in front of us.”

Smyth and Mattox each took home $2,000.