Xterra is not normally a hot topic on this board but this might be of interest to some. After 25 years, the Xterra World Championships will leave Hawaii and be held in Europe (Trentino, Italy) for the first time. Not a big surprise as Xterra seems to have better numbers and more races in Europe. Sounds like they are going to a rotating system for Worlds locations, which is probably smart. This coupled with the news of the “postponement” of Xterra Oak Mountain is a bummer to the US Xterra community.
Xterra is not normally a hot topic on this board but this might be of interest to some. After 25 years, the Xterra World Championships will leave Hawaii and be held in Europe (Trentino, Italy) for the first time. Not a big surprise as Xterra seems to have better numbers and more races in Europe. Sounds like they are going to a rotating system for Worlds locations, which is probably smart. This coupled with the news of the “postponement” of Xterra Oak Mountain is a bummer to the US Xterra community.
Probably a good move. Hawaii is a draw for road triathlon for obvious reasons, but I don’t think it added much to XTERRA in its current configuration. The course has been really bad for quite some time now.
Since Xterra pretty much killed their racing in the US and Maui has not been hospitable to that type of racing I’m not surprised they moved to a place where their market is stronger.
Italy is moderately more interesting to me, bc of the lack of BRUTAL heat and basically just riding uphill from the gun.
That said, the swim will def be chilly and so now the swim has been trimmed to a wetsuit legal swim. Sigh… subtract even more the advantage of swimming again.
I do happen to like them moving things around a bit.
However, why is there no explanation for cancelling Bama…? just tell us why you made the decision. I dont need to know if it was “a tough decision to make”, we all already know its tough… but WHY IS IT TOUGH AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING? jesus. we are talking about triathlon racing here… not espionage.
xterra overall continues to disappoint.
website not updated
races still say “maui” slots despite a big announcement that maui doesnt exist
cancels a major us race where folks go to qualify for worlds with no explanation.
almost (not all) but almost all other races in North america taking place at altitiude…which means, again wetsuit swim and advantage to those who live at altitude.
I am being harsh bc I have loved xterra for 6-7 years now. I have traveled around to various races. Done worlds a couple times. So I want to see them thrive. But man, they are not making it easy on anyone except super light climbers/runners who live at altitude.
The whole cancellation of Alabama for 2022 is odd. They say they will be back in 2023 but won’t say the reason for the cancellation. Perhaps Xterra Worlds will be in Oak Mountain in 2023?
The move from Maui I think will be a good one for Xterra as a whole but might be the deathknoll for US Xterra, unless Worlds come to the mainland in the next couple of years.
I’ve never been for an Xterra, but I used to ride those trails at Oak Mountain occasionally, it’s a great little park.
I think Hawaii is in a transition. Covid has really opened a lot of eyes to the reality of global markets and local cultural attitudes. I don’t know that Hawaii needs big events to fuel their economy any longer. Perhaps after a couple of years without them, both sides of the equation are deciding it’s simply not worth it.
Hawaii is a difficult destination to fly into regardless of your location in the world. In addition, it’s a very expensive place to visit (flight and hotel), shop, eat, etc… I love Maui but I definitely think it’s good for other world athletes (non-US) that it has moved the world championship
I think XTERRA is implementing a lot of changes internally and strategically.
Long time President and co-founder of XTERRA, Janet Clark recently left/retired. Linkedin would suggest there’s been some other significant changes.
I think XTERRA is still owned by a Chinese Billionaire whose name I forget… but perhaps that changed over the past 5 years or so. Either way, it would seem the current ownership and leaders are looking for a much more profitable model than what was used for the past 25+ years.
The county of Maui and Hawaii tourism paid for XTERRA to host Worlds there. If that has changed at all there’s no way its financially effective to host the event in Hawaii. Not to mention the Euros and many other athletes had been complaining about the cost of getting to Maui for years. Add to that the fact the race has been a muddy mess for many of the most recent years and its hard to make a case for keeping the event in Hawaii.
I believe XTERRA had similar tourism organization funding for Alabama and Utah. That could be why Alabama has been postponed.
When Team Unlimited was bought in 2017 they eventually said they were hoping to shift the event format to more of a weekend long endurance sport festival and not focus exclusively on the triathlon aspect, but look at trail running, mtb, maybe swim/run, while bringing in music etc. and wanted to host closer to city centers. Some of that seems interesting, but the off road adventure aspect is hard to bring into an urban setting.
Anyway, all of that is from a few years ago, and I’ve not been looking into it for 5 years, so I’m probably wrong on all of it.
I do like the idea of moving Worlds. Its intriguing not sure if its intriguing enough to get me racing again.
It’s a dream of mine to qualify and compete in Kona, but I would not be surprised or upset if M Dot moves Worlds.
As Doc pointed out, it’s expensive and difficult. I live as close to Hawaii as anyone not in Hawaii and it just doesn’t make sense any more. Too small, too crowded, supply and demand.
Is it hard to qualify for worlds in late 40s female category? Italy sounds good. I’m signed up for a race and in the past qualifying for nationals appears to involve not dying in my age group (I’ve never actually gone). Darn I might even go to a pool if it could involve a trip to Italy.
I love Maui but I definitely think it’s good for other world athletes (non-US) that it has moved the world championship
It’s good for even US based athletes. Depending on where you live, it might as well be the same level of complexity, time and expense as traveling to a foreign country.
Im not sure how popular my opinion would be, but 'bama for a world champs course is perfect.
The swim is non wetsuit and while this is a bit of guess, the swim wouldnt be cancelled bc its wavy or poor water quality. The wave part was a joke but water quality could be spoiler… otherwise, Id say a very good chance of consistency in the swim. The main issue, depending on time of year would be that the water is TOO warm… say early sept … but late in october Id imagine its good.
The bike course is legit and contains a fair amount of all three qualities. Technical ability. Fitness and climbing. The newer section they added last year was a nice bonus.
The run needs to get hammered out a bit. The old 2 loops course was great. The newer loop last year was around 11k and bit excessive in length compared to what was advertised (just shy of 10k loop) … adding around 5+ min more of running at the end of a very hot and tech run is quite tough.
Loads of parking.
Relatively easily access through Atlanta (the worlds busiest airport) with a short 2 hour drive from there.
Ability to stretch the event over a couple days.
Id vote for Bama for a worlds course. including run only, swim/bike, etc etc…
Hawaii is a difficult destination to fly into regardless of your location in the world. In addition, it’s a very expensive place to visit (flight and hotel), shop, eat, etc… I love Maui but I definitely think it’s good for other world athletes (non-US) that it has moved the world championship
That’s funny, as getting to Hawaii from Western Canada (and Western USA I imagine) is pretty easy and relatively cheap outside of the peak periods. For everyone else yes, it’s a pain.
It’s ALWAYS expensive AF for accommodation and car rentals. Europe is just so much cheaper. It’s the damn time zone changes flying East that always kill me though.
Hawaii is a difficult destination to fly into regardless of your location in the world. In addition, it’s a very expensive place to visit (flight and hotel), shop, eat, etc… I love Maui but I definitely think it’s good for other world athletes (non-US) that it has moved the world championship
That’s funny, as getting to Hawaii from Western Canada (and Western USA I imagine) is pretty easy and relatively cheap outside of the peak periods. For everyone else yes, it’s a pain.
It’s ALWAYS expensive AF for accommodation and car rentals. Europe is just so much cheaper. It’s the damn time zone changes flying East that always kill me though.
I fly to Hawaii from the east coast so it is always a long day, and expensive flight. My wife and I always joke that if we lived on the west coast (of the US), we probably would’ve purchased a second home in Hawaii by now.
And you are so right about the time zone changes. Flying to Hawaii is always great. I wake up super early, like 3:00AM, and go for a run every morning. Coming back home, to the east coast, I feel like I have brain fog for a week
It’s ALWAYS expensive AF for accommodation and car rentals. Europe is just so much cheaper. It’s the damn time zone changes flying East that always kill me though.
Europe, in general, might be cheaper but I’m not so sure about this location in Italy. I had never heard of Molveno before yesterday and doing a little investigating, it’s a tiny village with maybe a couple hundred hotel rooms. Neighboring Andalo is the same. Out of curiosity, I tried to look up hotel rates for the week of Xterra Worlds and the 2-3 hotels I searched were already sold out. I assume the visitor’s office or a tour group have already booked most of the hotel rooms, so I doubt it’ll be cheap. Buy them for $150 and sell them for $250.
Anyway, Molveno looks amazing. I just wonder what the weather might be like the first of October. It’s shoulder season but up at 2000+ft in that part of Italy, it could be sketchy.
If anyone wants to see highlights of this year’s race in Molveno, check out this video https://youtu.be/ZhYMEN_11PE
Scroll out your map a little more.
Two bigger towns nearby:Trento, Riva del Garda.
Probably loads of ski resort accommodation around there that’s fairly cheap in the summer.
the valley to the north has a half dozen small towns.
Definitely have to drive in race morning.
But on Maui, most people weren’t staying at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua either.
Mostly at my age thinking back through all the memories of US Xterra and Maui. Getting to Maui was a goal for me for a long time. Made it 10+ times, and yeah over 20 years saw lots of changes in Maui. Would always leave the resorts and stay in Hana after the race. I see a lot of talk there about slowing tourism numbers, but I think it is just talk. Hope Xterra in the US can carry on. The Team Unlimited crew, all gone now, tried so many different approaches over the years. None seemed to work in getting the US racer numbers up.
Due to the pandemic, and then an injury, my fall 2019 entry has kept rolling over, and I am on the 2022 start list. No idea if I will go yet. But the Dolomites have always been on my bucket list. Molveno Lake and surrounding peaks look wonderful. I plugged the week into sites like Booking, Hotels, Trip Advisor and saw lots of 7 day stays for < $1000 for Molveno. So quite a discount over Kapalua. Yes, flights from US to Verona are like 15 hours plus, kind of daunting. Prices reasonable. Rental cars from that airport cheaper than Maui. I assume most Europeans just drive there?
Love the comments about Bama and Oak Mountain. Been there many times, and it is the perfect and challenging Xterra course. Beautiful single track. Pros like Stoltz and many others said it was their favorite of all Xterra courses. Just a shame it’s called off. Big big hit to US Xterra.