2011 Xterra World Championship Bike/ Run Course

BIKE: The bike is one big loop that goes up-and-down the lower slopes of the West Maui Mountains more than a dozen times. “First blush of the bike course shows 18.3 miles with more than 3,000 feet of elevation gain,” said Nicholas.  “The terrain varies from hard-packed red dirt to new single track peeled out of an abandoned golf course that now rides like high speed grassland cross-country trails.  There are major gulch crossings that drop into river beds and head-high vegetation to navigate through. One thing is for certain, to do well riders will need to bring their climbing legs and descending courage.”

RUN:  Once on the run competitors will be faced with 6.1 mile course with a whole lot of climbing while they weave along dirt trails, through Oleander forests, and into 60-foot high ironwood evergreens to an unexpected mountain lake at the 650-foot level.

“It descends like a slalom course through high green Bermuda grasses and opens up in spots to expose fantastic views of the Pacific,” explains Nicholas.  “Obstacles are everywhere, including a technical, steep downhill into a gully where racers will have to jump over and duck under fallen trees, navigate a rocky dry creek, head through thick elephant grass, into a Cook pine nursery, up a short rope-assisted scramble and along a narrow single track trail with switchbacks that drop all the way down to the beach.  The final test of skill and endurance is a calf-busting 250-meter white sand beach run and of course, one-last uphill back to the Ritz.”

FINISH: There’s food booths, the Paul Mitchell cut-a-thon, XTERRA Gear shop, the Kona Brewing Liquid Aloha Lounge, and a front row seat to one of the greatest spectacles in all of sport – the spontaneous, ecstatic, and sometimes tear-jerking displays of emotion at the finish line.

I got all this information off the Xterra Official Website: http://www.xterraplanet.com/maui/worldChamps.html

Please check it out if you would like more details!