Alan Nicholls, owner of Swim Smooth America, recently competed in the premiere "off-road" triathlon event, the Xterra World Championships, held in Maui. Take the usual gruelling triathlon circuits, but substitute your road bike for a mountain one, bearing in mind this is downhill over razor sharp obsidian lava chips, so pump up the pressure to 50 psi, and if you wear contacts, bring an extra pair!

Alan reports:

"We both had great races & survived totally intact this year as last year I had a bad crash, sustained a broken rib and severe lava rock road rash, but I still finished.

Kathy [Katherine Frank] got 2nd place in her age & I got 13th (185th out of 500 including pros).

The event was magnificent from start to finish, this is the best organised event I have ever been in & I have been in hundreds.

The 1500m swim was again warm & beautiful & then onto the renowned Haleakala volcano 32k bike course where you gain over 3000ft in elevation. You just hang on & hope, as it's like riding on marbles with a razor blade reception if you fall. This year they changed the 11k run course, Oh boy was it tough, seriously up hill for the first 3miles then undulating over the horrendous Haleakala terrain then finally back to sea level. I was tracking a guy in my age group & felt really good, my plan was to wait until the feared 1mile section of beach run & then explode past him in a wave of enthusiasm. Ha!! the only thing that exploded was my quads, I instantly felt like I was running in quicksand & as for enthusiasm, that disappeared with the heals of my contenders running shoes.

Hope this gives you some kind of insight into the insane events we put ourselves through for fun!!!"