Xterra World Championships
After capturing the XTERRA Worlds 15-19 age group division titles in 2015 and 2016, Hayden returned to Maui to take his first elite victory.
Maui, Hawai'i
Year - 2021
Race Report
Once on the bike, Wilde continued to push the pace up front. “Full gas from the go, and once I got on the bike I was riding at threshold to see if anyone wanted to come with me and got a little bit of a lead,” said Wilde. “I just kept the pressure on during the first climb, and then a group got me just as we went into the second set of trail so from there we worked together and were all real competitive.”
It was a wild day for XTERRA all around, with the swim being cancelled for the first time in 25 years since the inaugural 1996 race on Maui due to massive surf and hazardous rip currents. The race converted to a run-bike-run duathlon that started with a 3K run and followed with a grueling two-lap 31K mountain bike ride and finished with an 11K trail run through forest trails and beach sand. In the men’s elite race Wilde jumped out to an early lead with the fastest 3K run time, 10:34.
Wilde passed Serrieres and Ruzafa in the first mile of the run and never looked back. “I just really applied the pressure as hard as I could in that first 5K and I knew it was downhill from there so just focused on staying on my feet and getting home safely."
“The last 15 minutes of the ride it started raining and got real slippery for me because the PSI was a bit too high,” said Wilde. “I was slipping everywhere and that’s when Ruben and the boys with all that experience flew away from us.”
“Feels good, awesome to come here and win it, and I still have unfinished business because I want to race here when it’s a triathlon so that gives me extra incentive to come back."