Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
KAPALUA, MAUI, Hawaii — With the sound of the starter's pistol, the world's fastest off-road triathletes raced into an Pacific Ocean on Sunday. Angry winter swells greeted competitors on the one-mile open ocean swim. Heat, humidity and the contours of West Maui's rain forest tested triathletes on the 20-mile mountain bike and six-mile trail run.
Three hours and three minutes after the gun, Park City's Emma Garrard picked up her 3-year-old son. "He was beaming." Garrard said. "So was I."
Both had reason as they crossed the finish line together: Garrard did so as the third-fastest woman on off-road triathlon's greatest day. "I'm very, very satisfied," the 2015 U.S. national champion in the discipline said. "I achieved my goal."
The podium placing also brought a nice payday, with Garrard winning $7,000 of the $105,000 purse prize given to male and female competitors of the Xterra Off-Road World Championships.
While Garrard broke through on the world stage, defending champ Flora Duffy of Bermuda left no doubt she's still the class of the off-road triathlon field. The two-time Olympian led out of the water with a commanding three-minute lead. Duffy never looked back, posting a time of 2:54:17, four minutes and 59 seconds before Lesley Paterson of Scotland.
In the men's competition, USA's Josiah Middaugh won his first Xterra world title in 15 tries. The 35-year-old's win marked America's first Xterra win in Maui title since 2000.
Garrard, 34, just might have the endurance and strength to battle for the top of the Xterra podium in future years. She also has the leg speed, posting the fastest run time of the day.
With the Rio de Janeiro games on the horizon, Duffy will prioritize the Olympic triathlon in 2016. Garrard will not.
Qualification races for Team USA's triathlon group are already underway. Plus, the more grinding style of off-road racing with course profiles that resemble an EKG printout with their heaving uphill-downhill format better suits the former standout University of Nevada-Reno steeple chaser and cross-country skier.
"You have to be so fast out of the water," Garrard said about the on-road, draft-legal style of triathlon the top brass chose for Olympic competition. "It's something I would have had to get into at a younger age, for sure."
