Maui Elite Field is Incredible

More than 70 of the fastest XTERRA racers on earth are confirmed for the $100,000 showdown in Maui.

For the men the hype starts with Josiah Middaugh, the reigning XTERRA World Champion. This year he won five majors and the XTERRA Pan Am Tour title in a photo-finish thriller against Kiwi Braden Currie.

Despite his recent success, the 16-year veteran of the sport says he still has more to prove.

“XTERRA Worlds in Maui last year was without a doubt the highlight of my career … but hopefully not the pinnacle.  I still have a few things left to prove in this sport and since I was able to “crack the code” once, it gives me confidence that I can do it again.”

To repeat, Middaugh will have to be amazing because the list of contenders is long and strong. It includes everyone in the top six from last year, champions from the XTERRA European Tour (Ruben Ruzafa) and Asia-Pacific Tour (Ben Allen), long-distance stars Ben Hoffman and Sebastian Kienle, current and former Olympians including Courtney Atkinson, Leonardo Chacon, Francisco Serrano, and Michi Weiss, off-road specialists Brad Weiss, Roger Serrano, Rom Akerson, and Karsten Madsen, and a wealth of young guns (25-or under) led by Mauricio Mendez, Felipe Barraza, Kieran McPherson, and Sam Long.  Together this group accounted for 25 of the 30 major championship titles on the World Tour this year.

“Looking at the start list always gets me excited, but I know after so many of these races not to focus too much energy on any one person,” said Middaugh.  “XTERRA is a race against the course and your race resume doesn’t help you here.  The race will show who is best on this course on that one day and that’s all I need to worry about.  I always tell myself that I don’t need to do something extraordinary here, rather put in the performance that I am trained for and capable of.   If I do that, someone else will have to do something extraordinary to beat me.”

2016 XTERRA World Championship Elite Men
Tentative as of 9.30.16
Sorted by bib #, based on finishing position in last year’s WC then alpha

Bib (2015 Pos) – Name (NAT)
1 (1) – Josiah Middaugh (USA)
2 (2) – Braden Currie (NZL)
3 (3) – Ruben Ruzafa (ESP)
4 (4) – Mauricio Mendez (MEX)
5 (5) – Courtney Atkinson (AUS)
6 (6) – Francisco Serrano (MEX)
7 (8) – Rom Akerson (CRC)
8 (10) – Ben Hoffman (USA)
9 (14) – Ben Allen (AUS)
10 (19) – Will Ross (USA)
11 (20) – Branden Rakita (USA)
12 (26) – Noah Wright (USA)
14 (28) – Cameron Paul (NZL)
15 – Rodrigo Acevedo (COL)
16 – Victor Arenas (COL)
17 – Felipe Barraza (CHI)
18 – Anders Bregnhoj (DEN)
19 – Julien Buffe (FRA)
20 – Francois Carloni (FRA)
21 – Leonardo Chacon (CRC)
22 – Kaon Cho (KOR)
23 – Mattia De Paoli (ITA)
24 – JP Donovan (USA)
25 – Chris Ganter (USA)
26 – Jason Hsieh (HKG)
27 – Alex Hunt (AUS)
28 – Ryan Ignatz (USA)
29 – Sebastian Kienle (GER)
30 – Ian King (USA)
31 – Sam Long (USA)
32 – Brian MacIlvain (USA)
33 – Karsten Madsen (CAN)
34 – Diogo Malagon (BRA)
35 – Patrick McKeon (USA)
36 – Kieran McPherson (NZL)
37 – Lucas Mendez (ARG)
38 – Joe Miller (PHI)
39 – Felipe Moletta (BRA)
40 – Maximiliano Morales (ARG)
41 – Sebastian Norberg (SWE)
42 – Takahiro Ogasawara (JPN)
43 – Sam Osborne (NZL)
44 – Anthony Pannier (FRA)
45 – Alex Roberts (NZL)
46 – Roger Serrano (ESP)
47 – Karl Shaw (GBR)
48 – Juscelino Vasconcelos (BRA)
49 – Brad Weiss (RSA)
50 – Michi Weiss (AUT)

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