Press and Media Center

The Grit & Beauty of XTERRA Worlds

Combine the world’s best athletes pushing themselves to the brink of exhaustion with one of the planet's most beautiful island destinations and you have XTERRA Worlds – the magical combination of grit and beauty – and sometimes even a little frivolity.

“The XTERRA World Championships regularly produces the most visually dramatic race of the year,” said the editors of Triathlete Magazine Europe in the caption to a highlight video from Sunday’s race.  “The photos we published on Monday pay testament to that, and the guys over at XTERRA have produced an excellent highlights package from Sunday’s race.”

It’s all about the location.  The swim start beach for XTERRA, D.T. Fleming Beach, has been named the World’s Best by Dr. Beach, and the bike and run course climb into the tropical ridgelines of the West Maui Mountains unveiling expansive views of the Pacific Ocean with the Islands of Lanai and Molokai on the not-too-distant horizon.  In particular, the new section of the bike course nicknamed "Razor Ridge" atop the mountain has to be seen to be believed (that's Josiah Middaugh pictured above on the ridge).

Just as visually stunning, though in an entirely different way, was the parody video of XTERRA competitors dancing to the popular "Gangnam Style" song.  It provided a frivolous relief to the preparations for the event, and showed just what the "Live More" spirit of XTERRA is all about.  Click links below to view videos and images.

XTERRA Worlds One-Hour Show

The Honolulu, Hawaii-based TEAM TV crew had 30 cameras in operation on Sunday, including point-of-view cams mounted on motorcycles, mountain bikes and jet skis, under-water cameras, and of course the camera on top of the helicopter hovering high above the action.

The footage will be used to produce a one-hour show for national and international broadcast, with the initial run in the U.S. starting in mid-January 2013.

This will be the 17th straight year a nationally broadcast one-hour show will be produced on the XTERRA World Championship, which showcases Maui’s natural beauty.  The 2011 XTERRA World Championship show (watch it now at www.xterra.tv) has been seen by some four million viewers via national syndication (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) and Fox Sports Network.

XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VIDEOS/IMAGES

Relive some of the magic from the 17th Annual XTERRA World Championship with this collection of videos, photos, and stories:

TEAM TV Highlight Video (11:30)
XTERRA Gangnam Style Dance Parody (3:36)
A Maui Story in every image Photo Gallery (86 images)
Pro Race Gallery, by Nils Nilsen (60 images)
Slowtwitch.com Gallery, by Timothy Carlson (20 images)

Pre-race Interviews (Click on the name to view)
- Pro Men: Javier Gomez Noya, Josiah Middaugh, Conrad Stoltz, Sebastian Kienle, Nicolas Lebrun (in English), Nicolas Lebrun (in French), Eneko Llanos, Brent McMahon, Asa Shaw, Ben Allen

- Pro Women: Lesley Paterson, Suzie Snyder, Helena Erbenova, Jacqui Slack, Danelle Kabush, Christine Jeffrey, Melanie McQuaid
- Philippines Soap Opera Star Mateo Guidicelli