MountainMan Triathlon Photos

Yesterday was the MountainMan Triathlon out at Kualoa Ranch. This event is an off-road triathlon and a qualifying race for the Xterra World Championships held on Maui in October. Mauricio Puerto, Paul Sibley and Barbi McAllaster were three of about 170 competitors.

I was there in support of Barbi and also to photograph the event for Planet Sun as one of our sponsored athletes is Alex Eiler, a strong pre-race favorite to win the race.

The race consists of a 750 meter ocean swim, approximately 10 mile bike ride and a run of just under 4 miles.The swim takes place across the road from the main entrance and the bike and run courses are located in Kaawa Valley, one of the most beautiful valley’s in all of Hawaii. This is the valley where they have filmed so many classic movies.

The swim was estimated by many competitors to be short this year and based on the times, probably was in fact less than 750 meters. I road the bike course myself last Saturday after running the Maunawili Out and Back and it is a fun course to ride. The run was on a new course this year and several people thought it was pretty tough and hilly.

Barbi earned her Xterra slot by finishing second in her age group. Paul
and Maricio are both in a tough (meaning young and very competitive) age group but both had great races.
How did Alex do? He won overall with about a 4-minute cushion, very impressive!!

This is a great event and I would encourage anyone who is interested in doing an offroad triathlon to give it a try sometime. It looked like a lot of fun.

If you are interested in seeing photos, click here. Click on Slideshow in upper right corner to view best.

Aloha,

Bob