Maui's Makena hosts 14th XTERRA World
The 14th annual XTERRA World Championship, considered the premier off-road triathlon, will be held Sunday at Makena Beach & Golf Resort on Maui's South shore.
The race will include a blind racer from Colorado, an amputee from San Diego and a Honolulu resident with spinal cord damage.
Mike Stone, 41, of Boulder, Colo., is legally blind and will compete with help of his friend and guide Ivy Koger.
Andy May, 36, of Dublin, Calif., lost his left leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident. He competes with a prosthetic leg.
Fouad "Ed" Fattoumy, 43, is a Honolulu resident. An avid bike rider, he was nearly killed when hit by car. He suffered spinal cord damage that causes persistent pain in his buttocks, limping, and lack of feeling in his lower extremities .
The race also is expected to include local athletes such as Richard Cochrane, Mark Geoghegan, Nicholas Kaiser and Amy Eck, all of whom competed in the Kona Ironman two weeks ago.
The race consists of a 1.5-kilometer (one mile) swim, a 32k (20 miles) mountain bike that climbs 3,000 feet up and down Haleakalä and a 12k (7.5 miles) trail run that takes competitors through lava rock, forest and beach.
The sold-out field of 550 includes 75 professionals (winning pro in each gender gets $20,000 of the $105,000 purse) and 450 amateurs from 23 countries and 36 states.
The race is the last in a series of nearly 100 off-road triathlons held in 12 countries and 32 states.
For live updates, go to www.xterramaui.com.
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