Rubén Ruzafa win XTERRA Italia Championship
The Castelli equipped and two-time XTERRA World Champion Ruben Ruzafa from Spain won his fifth XTERRA European Tour championship race on Saturday with another dominating performance, this time at the XTERRA Italy Championship in Scanno.
Back in 2008 a then 29-year-old Ruzafa, hailing from Malaga, Spain, shocked the XTERRA planet when he won the World Championship in his first try. There’s no such surprise anymore. Last year when he retired from world cup mountain biking (where he collected four national titles in cross country and marathon for Spain) to focus on XTERRA he won XTERRA Spain, was 2nd at France, won Germany, and was third at the USA Championship. Since then he’s been perfect, winning Worlds in 2013, and Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, and Italy this year. Six straight and 8-of-10 in the last 13 months.
On Sunday, he took the victory in two hours and forty-five minutes, more than four minutes ahead of Braden Currie (who just won XTERRA Sweden) and five minutes ahead of four-time XTERRA World Champion and reigning/3x ITU Cross Triathlon World Champion Conrad “the Caveman” Stoltz.
Top 5 result – Elite Men
| Pos. | Name | Time |
| 1 | Ruben Ruzafa, ESP | 2:45:23 |
| 2 | Braden Currie, NZL | 2:49:57 |
| 3 | Conrad Stoltz, RSA | 2:50:39 |
| 4 | Francois Carloni, FRA | 2:51:23 |
| 5 | Asa Shaw, GBR | 2:53:45 |
2014 XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING EVENTS
The XTERRA Italy Championship was the 27th of 36 events where the fastest amateur athletes from around the globe could qualify for the 19th annual XTERRA World Championship at Kapalua, Maui on October 26, 2014.
| Date | Race | Location / Pro Winners |
| 23-Feb | XTERRA South Africa | Dan Hugo / Flora Duffy |
| 8-Mar | XTERRA Motatapu | Braden Currie / Nicky Samuels |
| 15-Mar | XTERRA Philippines Championship | Dan Hugo / Renata Bucher |
| 29-Mar | XTERRA Guam Championship | Dan Hugo / Renata Bucher |
| 29-Mar | XTERRA Costa Rica | Leonardo Chacon / Shonny Vanlandingham |
| 30-Mar | XTERRA Great Ocean Road |
Ben Allen / Jacqui Slack |
| 5-Apr | XTERRA Saipan Championship | Ben Allen / Carina Wasle |
| 12-Apr | XTERRA New Zealand Championship | Conrad Stoltz / Barbara Riveros |
| 13-Apr | XTERRA West Championship | Josiah Middaugh / Flora Duffy |
| 26-Apr | XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship | Dan Hugo / Flora Duffy |
| 3-May | XTERRA Malaysia | Dan Hugo / Jacqui Slack |
| 17-May | XTERRA Southeast Championship | Josiah Middaugh / Flora Duffy |
| 24-May | XTERRA Mauritius | Sam Gardner / Karyn Southgate |
| 24-May | XTERRA Spain Championship | Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova |
| 1-Jun | XTERRA Portugal | Ruben Ruzafa / Coralie Redelsperger |
| 8-Jun | XTERRA Brazil Championship | Felipe Moletta / Sabrina Gobbo |
| 15-Jun | XTERRA East Championship | Dan Hugo / Flora Duffy |
| 21-Jun | XTERRA Greece | Francois Carloni / Kathrin Mueller |
| 28-Jun | XTERRA Switzerland Championship | Ruben Ruzafa / Kathrin Mueller |
| 29-Jun | XTERRA Norway | Dan Hugo / Cecilie Overbye |
| 5-Jul | XTERRA Ontario | Sean Bechtel / Heather Pady |
| 6-Jul | XTERRA France Championship | Ruben Ruzafa / Kathrin Mueller |
| 6-Jul | XTERRA Victoria | Brent McMahon / Melanie McQuaid |
| 6-Jul | XTERRA Freedom Fest | Sergio Florian / Laurel Dudley |
| 13-Jul | XTERRA Sweden | Braden Currie / Helena Erbenova |
| 19-Jul | XTERRA Mountain Championship | Josiah Middaugh / Chantell Widney |
| 26-Jul | XTERRA Italy Championship | Ruben Ruzafa / Helene Erbenova |
| 2-Aug | XTERRA Mexico Championship | Tapalpa, Jalisco |
| 9-Aug | XTERRA Czech Championship | Prachatice |
| 16-Aug | XTERRA Germany Championship | Zittau |
| 17-Aug | XTERRA Canmore | Alberta, Canada |
| 24-Aug | XTERRA England | Cranleigh, Surrey |
| 31-Aug | XTERRA Denmark | Tisvilde |
| 31-Aug | XTERRA Quebec | Lac Delage, Quebec, Canada |
| 7-Sep | XTERRA Sleeping Giant | Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
| 20-Sep | XTERRA USA Championship | Ogden/Snowbasin, UT |
| 26-Oct | XTERRA World Championship | Maui, Hawaii |