Alistair Brownlee heads into the jungle for his latest endurance challenge
Ali Brownlee is back racing off-road – and this time, he’s heading to Costa Rica…
Alistair Brownlee is heading back to the off-road racing scene this August, with the two-time Olympic champion set to make his XTERRA return in Costa Rica on 21-23 August. The British triathlete will headline a weekend of racing in Las Catalinas, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, where athletes will tackle tropical forest trails, mountain-bike singletrack and the warm waters of Playa Danta.
For Ali, the event is part of a return to the kind of adventure racing that helped shape his sporting career. The 38-year-old is one of triathlon’s most decorated athletes, having won Olympic gold at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, alongside a huge 22 World Triathlon Championship Series victories.
His last XTERRA appearance came in 2023, when he won XTERRA Weston Park in the UK. “I love adventure. I love visiting new places. I love nature. I love meeting new people,” said Ali in a message from earlier this year, explaining the appeal of the Costa Rica race.
Since retiring from the sport at the end of the 2024 season, Brownlee has continued to explore endurance sports away from the traditional triathlon format, including fell running, gravel riding and long-distance cycling, but says the attraction remains the same. “The thing that is the same is the sense of adventure and fun, which is why I’m doing XTERRA.”
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In Costa Rica, that adventure will take the form of a 1.5km swim in the mild waters of Playa Danta, followed by a 27.3km mountain-bike course and 10.4km trail run. The bike course heads into the singletrack surrounding Las Catalinas, combining technical climbs and descents with exposed sections overlooking the Pacific, before the run takes competitors through forest and back towards the beach and town.
Ali will also be racing alongside American Josiah Middaugh, a former XTERRA World Champion and 15-time national champion, who returns to Las Catalinas with his sons. Josiah won the inaugural XTERRA Costa Rica in 2024, edging Austria’s Dominik Wychera by just 19 seconds.
The weekend will also host the XTERRA Americas Trail Run Championships, with continental titles up for grabs over marathon and half-marathon distances. The 36km Trail Marathon features 972m of elevation gain, while the 23.9km Half Marathon climbs 654m. Both races will offer qualification opportunities for the 2027 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship in Gozo, Malta.
For Ali, though, the Costa Rican adventure is less about another title and more about returning to the freedom and unpredictability of racing away from the road. In Las Catalinas, he will find a course designed to combine all three disciplines with the tropical landscape that first attracted him to XTERRA.
220 Triathlon Team
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