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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, October 24, 2003

Competitors take to trails for extreme triathlon

Advertiser Staff

Nissan Xterra World Championship

What: Off-road triathlon

Where: Wailea, Maui

When: Race starts at 9 a.m. Sunday; first finishers expected between 11 and 11:30 a.m.

Course: 1.5-kilometer swim at Wailea Beach, followed by 30-kilometer mountain bike along the slopes of Haleakala, and then a 11-kilometer trail run from Makena to Wailea.

Purse: $105,000 total, including $20,000 each to the first male and female finishers.
If last weekend's Ironman Triathlon World Championship is for the iron triathlete, then this weekend's Xterra World Championship is for the extreme triathlete.

The 8th Annual Nissan Xterra World Championship will take place Sunday on Maui. The course consists of a 1.5-kilometer ocean swim at Wailea Beach, a 30-kilometer mountain bike on the slopes of Haleakala, and an 11-kilometer trail run from Makena to Wailea.

"In a road (triathlon) you know what you're facing," said Waialua's Jimmy Davis, who is one of Hawai'i's top entries. "But in Xterra, you have all the elements to worry about. No matter what you do to practice, there are going to be things you can't control in this race."

More than 400 triathletes are expected to compete on Sunday, including the 1999 Miss Hawai'i, Candes Meijide Gentry.

"You can never let your guard down in this race," Gentry said. "You have to maintain focus every second or you could end up getting hurt."

Around 40 extremely extreme triathletes will attempt to complete the Hawaiian Airlines Double, which means finishing both the Ironman in Kona and the Xterra in Maui.

Canada's Peter Reid, who won the Ironman last Saturday, is going for the double on Sunday.

Honolulu's Wendy Minor, 58, will be the oldest female ever to attempt the double. Last Saturday, she completed the Ironman (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and 26.2-mile run) in 14 hours, 46 minutes, 23 seconds.

"I'm a bit tired, but mentally, I'm ready to go," she said. "What keeps me going is that this race is a whole lot of fun. The Xterra course on Maui is more like an obstacle course."

The fastest professional triathletes should finish the course in around 2 hours, 30 minutes. The slowest finishers take around 5 hours.