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Mountain Champs Course Preview

The XTERRA Mountain Championship course at Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, Colorado is a stone's throw from where 5-time XTERRA National Champ Josiah Middaugh (pictured) lives with his wife and three kids. Here he gives us an insiders look at what competitors can expect come July 17...

Swim:  Nottingham lake in Avon is just big enough to get a full mile swim with 2 laps.  The water temperature should be a comfortable wetsuit swim for amateurs and close to the cut-off of 68 for pros.  Expect calm waters on race morning.  Buck Creek flows into the reservoir so even though the lake is small, the water temp rarely tops 70 degrees F.  For a preview of the course, the town of Avon will host the first Dunk-n-Dash on Monday, July 12th at 6:00 pm .

Bike:  For the full XTERRA distance, the course gains 2,000 vertical feet in the first 5 miles (3,600 total for the full XTERRA course).  All sections are rideable by most competitors, but prepare for a long climb with little relief. The Elkhorn trail and Daybreak Ridge trail are mostly double track, so there is plenty of room for passing for the slower swimmers.  The course peaks out at above 9,400 feet above the Arrowhead and Bachelor Gulch ski slopes.  After the Arrowhead Yurt the course turns a sharp left into a well-maintained single track that switches through the aspen trees.  The next section is a long traverse on the Village to Village trail, a combination of a wide wood-chip trail and single track.  Don't let it deceive you as this trail gradually gains in elevation as it traverses Arrowhead, Bachelor's Gulch, and Beaver Creek.  Allie's Way is a moderately technical, fast-rolling single track that continues to traverse Beaver Creek, but now on a slight decline. The final section of single track descends the lower section of Cork Screw trail who's name says it all.

Run:  Although most of the pre-race hype will be about the bike course, the run is where champions are made.  The full XTERRA run course is essentially two challenging climbs that each have over 500 vertical feet of climbing (1,300 total for the course).  The first climb is the toughest, but well-shaded in the Aspen trees.  Aid will be plentiful on the course with stations every mile.  Both climbs are single track and the descents are on more gentle service roads. 

Click here for the full course map and profile.