BEAVER CREEK — If there was any doubt cardiovascular potential is an inherited trait, Saturday’s Xterra Mountain Cup offroad triathlon made a pretty good case for it.
Finishing fifth in the women’s pro race was Rebecca Dussault of Gunnison, a 2006 Olympian in cross country skiing who is competing on the Xterra tour to maintain a “competitive edge” while plotting a comeback she hopes will take her to the Vancouver Winter Games.
Winning the 8-11 age group in the children’s race was Dussault’s oldest son, Tabor, even though he’s only 7.
“I am just so proud of him because he’s just budding into a competitive athlete,” Dussault said. “He’s unreal at everything he tries.”
Dussault was all but certain her retirement after the 30-kilometer race at the Turin Games would stick (“We wanted to kind of move on with life”), but two winters ago she competed for fun and scored some surprising results with minimal training. Last winter she took it a step further and dominated the domestic circuit, including a victory in the prestigious American Birkebeiner 50-kilometer in Hayward, Wis.
“When I was interviewed after I crossed the line, I said, ‘This is the most important victory of my career,’ ” Dussault said. “It’s the Mac Daddy of ski races.”
Dussault, 28, also won the Owl Creek Chase in Aspen, the Great Ski Race in Truckee, Calif., and the Xterra Winter World Championships in Snow Basin, Utah. At the ITU Winter Triathlon world championships in Austria, she claimed a bronze medal.
With every successful outing, a comeback for the Olympics became more tempting.
“It feels tangible, moreso than ever in the last three years,” Dussault said. “We just have to get specifics nailed down.”
Lack of sponsorship could be a problem. Last winter Dussault raced for the Saab-Salomon team, but it folded when Saab filed for bankruptcy protection in February.
Since the last Olympics, Dussault gave birth to her second son and had to watch her husband, Sharbel, fight a serious illness. He’s OK now after “three life-saving surgeries,” but there were long periods of heart-wrenching worry.
Sharbel turned the corner last year, and in August Rebecca began to think about becoming a serious competitor again.
“I said, ‘I’m just going to start training in the event that I should want to be fit this winter,’ seeing as how Sharbel was looking like he was going to be healthy — and alive,” Dussault said.
Dussault got into trouble in 2005 and 2006 by overtraining, typically putting in 10 to 12 hours a week. Last winter it was four to six hours a week, but she was more successful.
“It’s like the less I do, the better I am,” Dussault said. “The years I tried to do too much with training, I cook myself. I just did the most basic training (last winter) and had so much fun with it. It just snowballed.”
Saturday’s race consisted of a 1-mile swim, 15.5-mile mountain bike leg and 5.75-mile trail run. Nico Lebrun of France won (2 hours, 15 minutes, 6 seconds) and Shonny Vanlandingham of Durango was the top woman (2:30:14).
Dussault (2:40) calls herself a “rookie” in summer Xterra races and was pleased to finish fifth — especially since skiing is her forte.
“This is a really stacked pro women’s field,” Dussault said. “There still seems to be a level above me, which is fine. It’s an attainable level.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
