From Maui to the Mountains: The Evolution of Off-Road Triathlon’s Greatest Race

When you picture Maui, cascading waterfalls, white sand beaches, and spectacular sunsets quickly come to mind. Yet hidden within this paradise lies Makena, the birthplace of XTERRA. On November 3, 1996, just 123 pioneering athletes gathered for the first-ever race, then known as Aquaterra, launching an entirely new style of triathlon.

The inaugural course was raw and brutal. It began with a 1.5K point-to-point ocean swim from Ulua Beach to Wailea Beach, followed by nearly 30K of mountain biking across the volcanic slopes of Haleakala. Athletes finished with an unforgiving 11K trail run through fields of lava rock, deep sand, and kiawe scrub. Jimmy Riccitello (USA) and Michellie Jones (AUS) claimed victory, marking a pivotal moment as mountain bikers and road triathletes alike embraced the challenge. A who's who of both disciplines had shown up to try something completely new. Without much more than Speedos and guts, they dove headfirst into what would become the most challenging off-road triathlon on Earth.

The idea was sparked when a group of mountain bikers, after a muddy cross-country race near Kualoa Ranch, rode straight into the ocean to wash off their bikes. With “Your Toughest Competitor is Mother Nature” as a guiding truth, the race invited athletes into an elemental battle against the land, ocean and themselves. It was the start of something more than sport. It was the beginning of a lifestyle. One where you are constantly outside the comfort zone. One that never gets old.

Fifteen years of unforgiving coastline. Before XTERRA became a global movement, it was simply a battle between body and land on the parched, volcanic trails of South Maui. From 1996 to 2010, Makena served as the proving ground where the world’s best off-road triathletes came to face the ocean’s mood, the sun’s fire, and Haleakalā’s unforgiving slopes.

‍

The course itself never softened. Athletes plunged into the Pacific, facing everything from currents to crashing shorebreak. The bike leg climbed through dry, dusty jeep roads and across jagged lava fields, where thorns punctured tires and squashed championship hopes for some, with the remaining survivors pushing on. The run was pure attrition as deep sand, scrub brush, beach slogs, and blistering heat punished every step. If you didn’t adapt, you didn’t finish.

In the early years, XTERRA was still defining what it would become. In 1997, Mike Pigg (USA) and Cameron Randolph (USA) edged out the competition to claim the men’s and women’s ‘haku lei’ flower crown. In 1998 and 1999, it was the mountain bikers’ time with Ned Overend (USA), already a hall-of-famer, mastering the terrain to win back-to-back titles in his forties. Then came Michael Tobin (USA) and Kerstin Weule (USA) in 2000, after years of close calls, finally conquering the course on a day when the brutal climb called “Hell” made legends and broke dreams.

‍

But the tides were shifting. In 2001, a new name crashed into the scene like a rogue wave: Conrad Stoltz (ZAF). They called him the Caveman, and he raced like one, devouring the bike course, dropping the field, and opening a new chapter of XTERRA dominance. His South African teammate Anke Erlank (ZAF) won the women’s race that same year, marking the first sweep by international athletes and a new global identity for the sport.

‍

Over the next decade, the Makena trails saw it all: Eneko Llanos (ESP) and Nico Lebrun (FRA) trading blows. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) building a dynasty on the women’s side in epic battles against icon Jamie Whitmore (USA). Julie Dibens (GBR) rewrote the playbook with a three-peat from 2007 to 2009, combining Olympic-level swim speed with punishing bike power. In 2008, Rubén Ruzafa (ESP) arrived from the mountain bike world and stunned everyone with a wire-to-wire win. And in 2010, Conrad Stoltz returned to the top once more, earning a record fourth title in what would be the final race on the South Shore.

Each year, the course took something—skin, struggle, strength—but gave back even more: perspective, grit, and a sense of belonging. Makena wasn’t just the first XTERRA World Championship venue, it was a lava-scorched dreamscape where the trails were raw, forging a sport where only the most complete off-road athletes could thrive. 

‍

This was where it all began. This was where XTERRA learned how to fight.

A new venue. A new mountain. A new chapter. When XTERRA moved from the sunbaked lava fields of Makena to the lush, wind-swept ridgelines of Kapalua in 2011, the landscape changed, but the challenge only grew. The northwest coast of Maui delivered a fresh test: long climbs through abandoned pineapple fields, sudden plunges into forested gulches, and red dirt trails that could bake to cement or dissolve into slippery clay within hours. From the crashing surf of D.T. Fleming Beach to the “Stairway to Heaven” climb buried in the jungle, Kapalua offered no easy path to victory.

The course was raw and dynamic. Athletes started with a 1.5K ocean swim in open water known for strong currents and unpredictable swell. The bike was where the race stretched out 30 to 32 kilometers of steep fire road climbs, fast singletrack, and over 3,000 feet (914 meters) of total elevation. The final run, 10K of red dirt rollers and rooted trail, demanded everything left in the tank. And always, the finish came with a final sprint down the soft sand of Fleming Beach, just to remind racers that Maui finishes what it starts.

‍

In its first year, Austria’s Michael Weiss and Scotland’s Lesley Paterson (GBR) mastered this new terrain, setting the tone for a decade of high drama. In 2012, Olympic silver medalist Javier Gómez (ESP) put on a masterclass, while Paterson returned to defend her crown in the mud. The next year saw the return of Rubén Ruzafa (ESP), who found redemption on Kapalua’s loose dirt. That same year, Nicky Samuels (NZL) surprised the field for her first and only world title.

‍

Then came a reign. Flora Duffy (BMU) arrived in 2014 and changed the sport forever. She won five titles in six years on Maui, often leading from the gun. With unmatched swim speed, technical power, and a running gear no one could match, The Queen of Kapalua turned the course into her personal proving ground. In 2015, she defended her title while Josiah Middaugh (USA) finally triumphed on home soil, ending a 15-year American drought in the men’s race.

In 2016, Mother Nature took over. Torrential rain turned the course into a mud-soaked battlefield. Mauricio Méndez (MEX), just 20 years old, ran his way into the history books as the youngest ever men’s winner, while Duffy conquered the mud with the largest winning margin in XTERRA history. Bradley Weiss (ZAF) earned his first title in 2017, and in 2018, Rom Akerson (CRI) shocked the world, becoming the first Central American champion on a day where grit beat expectations. That same year, Lesley Paterson returned from hiatus to win her third world title in a storybook comeback.

‍

2019 saw the sun shine one last time in full. Weiss won again, and Duffy claimed her fifth crown, cementing her status as the most decorated XTERRA athlete of all time. Then came the pause. The 2020 race was canceled due to the pandemic, and when XTERRA returned in 2021, it did so with fury: massive surf forced the swim to be canceled for the first time in event history, turning the race into a duathlon. Hayden Wilde (NZL), fresh off an Olympic medal, adapted fast and took the men’s crown, while Flora Duffy added her sixth XTERRA World Championship title to a season that already included Olympic gold.

For 11 years, Kapalua pushed the sport forward. The terrain was steeper. The trails were tighter. The weather, even less predictable, demanded a new kind of complete athlete who could endure sun or storm, surf or mud, pressure or pain. Kapalua wasn't a continuation of Makena. It was its own beast. And in its final year, it left as it arrived—unexpected, unforgiving, unforgettable.

If Makena was where XTERRA was born and Kapalua where it evolved, then Molveno is where it soared into international skies. Nestled beneath the jagged limestone towers of the Brenta Dolomites, this lakeside village in Trentino, Italy offered a change in scenery, altitude, and a chance to reimagine the World Championship in the heart of Europe.

‍

Lake Molveno, at 800 meters above sea level, its alpine waters clear and cold, reflects towering peaks above. The course is a masterpiece of elevation and rhythm. Athletes dive into the chill of the lake for a 1.5K swim, then ground their way up the Paganella slopes in a 32K mountain bike segment that climbs over 1,000 meters each lap. The signature descent known as “Blade Runner” delivers high-speed berms, roots, and rock, demanding confidence and control. The 10K trail run loops around waterfalls and forested singletrack, with just enough lakeside calm to lull athletes into overexertion before a punishing climb snaps them back.

In 2022, the World Championship left Maui for the first time in 25 years. The result was instant vindication. France’s Arthur Serrières and Solenne Billouin claimed their first world titles, thriving on home-continent soil. The shift in location didn’t dilute the challenge, it redefined it, and a new generation rose. Serrières ran away with the men’s race, while Billouin stunned a stacked women’s field with a breakout win, vaulting France back to the top of XTERRA.

‍

By 2023, the Dolomite course had proven itself worthy of the World Championship name. Cold rain and mud coated the trails, but Serrières and Billouin repeated as champions, both using dominant bike legs and fearless descending to drop their rivals. The French sweep was another statement for the decade ahead. On the men’s side, Felix Forissier (FRA) led off the bike but couldn’t hold off Serrières’s closing speed. On the women’s side, Billouin attacked early and never looked back. Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen’s (DNK) heroic charge from 36th out of the water to 3rd at the finish added to the legend of the day. 

Then came 2024. A triple crown loomed. Over 1,000 athletes from more than 50 nations gathered beneath the peaks. The course was familiar now with two laps on the bike, two on the run, but no easier. Conditions were slick from early-week storms. On race day, the sun broke through. The trails dried just enough for speed to return. And once again, Arthur Serrières and Solenne Billouin stood above the rest. Serrières became the first man in XTERRA history to win three World Championships in a row. Billouin joined Julie Dibens (GBR) as the only women to claim three consecutive titles, still one shy of Duffy’s legendary four in a row. Both made their move on the bike and sealed it with clinical runs. 

Meanwhile, the Middaugh family brought the spirit of XTERRA full circle, with father Josiah finishing 5th, and sons Sullivan and Porter placing 7th and 23rd. The crowd’s roars were deafening for Sullivan just two days earlier, when he won the final Short Track race of the 2024 XTERRA World Cup in a photo finish against Serrières and Forissier—a possible glimpse of what’s to come in 2025 and beyond. Now in its third year, the XTERRA World Cup will once again build toward a dramatic close in Molveno after eight stops and eleven races, culminating just two days before the World Championship Full Distance race, with the Short Track serving as the grand finale.

‍

Molveno has succeeded in bringing out the best in athletes, the grit in champions, and the soul of the sport. The climbs have been brutal, the views unforgettable, and the race atmosphere electric. Over three unforgettable years, the Dolomites have given XTERRA a new layer that is sharper, resilient and welcoming. And as the world prepares to gather there one final time in 2025, the trails will echo with the sound of footsteps and cowbells one last time before the championship moves again.

XTERRA has always gone where the wild still rules. In 2026, the World Championship returns to its American roots, this time to the mountains of New Mexico. For the first time in XTERRA history, the sport’s crown jewel will be held in the continental United States, in the high-altitude haven of Ruidoso, a place where altitude meets attitude, and the trails whisper stories of the Wild West.

At 6,900 feet (2,100 meters) above sea level, surrounded by the towering pines of Lincoln National Forest, Ruidoso offers character, culture and community. The centerpiece is Grindstone Lake, a mountain-fed body of water that will host the 1.5K swim. Thin air and cool conditions will test even the strongest lungs, and the two-lap format with an Australian exit keeps both spectators and athletes on edge.

‍

The bike course is a rugged masterpiece, tracing the steep contours of the Grindstone Trail System. A 5.5K climb ascends to Grindstone Mesa, where riders catch their breath, and breathtaking views, before plunging into rocky, rooty, twisting singletrack. With over 2,950 feet (900 meters) of elevation gain, this bike leg will demand not just fitness, but finesse.

The run, like all good XTERRA runs, saves its bite for the end. Winding through pine-lined trails and climbing punchy hills, the course finishes with a dramatic 2K descent into Wingfield Park, right through the heart of town. Spectators lining the finish chute will cheer athletes into the final sprint—not just through pain, but into history. This is where grit meets glory, where a world title is either secured or lost in the final meters.

‍

But Ruidoso isn’t just hosting a race, it’s welcoming a new generation of families, friends and future stars. A mountain town community that has weathered fire, flood, and hardship, now rises with strength and pride to greet the world. Locals have embraced the event, with plans for concerts, family activities, XTERRA Movie Nights, youth clinics, and festivals of food, music, and culture. Wild horses still roam these hills. Now, so will world champions.

‍

The XTERRA Youth World Championship will take place the very next day, continuing its mission to elevate the next generation of off-road athletes. After expanding globally in 2024, the Youth Tour finds its most exciting stage yet in the New Mexican high country, alongside legends past and future. As thousands of supporters gather in Ruidoso, XTERRA’s 30th anniversary will be more than a race. It will be a homecoming.

Off-road triathlon was born on the lava and sand of Maui, soared through the mist and climbs of Molveno, and now steps boldly onto the high trails of Ruidoso. Thirty years of dust, sweat, and discovery have shaped a sport that began as an experiment and became a way of life. XTERRA is a global tribe, a multi-generational movement, and a test of will against whatever nature dares to throw down.

‍

From the crashing surf to alpine ascents, the XTERRA Community has risen to beat the heat, snap the chill and explore the unknown. With the Youth Tour gaining steam, the World Cup more intense than ever, and the World Championship headed for bold new terrain, the XTERRA story is only getting bigger.

‍

Ruidoso is calling. The next chapter begins.