Mike Preston
My first XTERRA race was in Crested Butte, 2005. Had a terrible time swimming but enjoyed the bike/run. I decided it wasn’t for me because of the swim.
Then in 2012 was looking for something fun to do on a family trip to Oahu and came across Xterra Freedom Fest. Figured I give it a shot. Loved it! and have been doing about 5-6 a year ever since. Last year I returned to Freedom Fest and qualified for my first worlds. Very challenging race almost similar to the 2 ‘epics’ I’ve done.  Kept me thinking about it all winter so left Crested Butte the weekend before my biggest race of the year (Elk Mtn Grand Traverse) and did Xterra Costa Rica. While my 5 place age group finish didn’t auto qualify me about a month later I got my spot in this years race.
Looking forward to being on Maui, and enjoying myself. Incredibly inspired by all the awesome athletes in what is the largest event I’ve done. The why is probably for my daughter Jordan 14, showing her a healthy lifestyle where you can get out what you put in. Hopefully this race will inspire me to ITU Cross Worlds or perhaps my 1st Ironman.
1st I have done some work with coach Jenny Smith through gO Tri, Griggs Orthopedics, in Crested Butte.
John Field
I am a long ago former collegiate distance runner who has been addicted to triathlon for the better part of 15 years. I came to the sport following a pretty nasty jet ski accident that left me unable to run (or walk) for about a year where swimming and spinning made up a large part of my rehab. Made sense to put the three together once I had recovered and I was instantly hooked.
The majority of my racing over the years has been in road tri’s, including 3 full Ironman events, countless 70.3’s, and a trip to 70.3 Worlds as well. Splitting time between the road and dirt events is new to the last few years. Turns out mixing in trail events has infused new passion into my fitness hobby, and it eliminates the likelihood of getting run over by a car while racing or training!
I am an old daddy (47) of a toddler and my real motivation to stay fit comes from the need to keep up with a young child while becoming AARP eligible.
I qualified with a roll down this year in Alabama, and last year in our back yard at the Rocky Mountain Xterra champs at Beaver Creek. I am looking forward to improving on my mid-pack (overall and in my age group) finish last year with some better course knowledge this time around, not that I was disappointed with that finish at a world level!
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