XTERRA is a global brand of sporting challenges that is creating a 100,000 ‘tribe’ of followers that race this particular type of challenge around the world every year. A new collaboration between the Hellfire Events challenge organisers and the Malta Tourism Authority has seen the XTERRA brand include Malta as the season opener of the European Series. XTERRA MALTA will be held on the 29th of March 2015 at the Golden Bay Radisson Blu Resort, and aim to attract hundreds of sports and nature enthusiasts from around the world to challenge themselves against the elements in the beauty of Malta’s nature reserves.

“XTERRA MALTA is an off road triathlon that will require participants of all levels to swim in Golden Bay, Mountain Bike cycle through Majjistral and trail run through the Gnejna plateau and clay slopes, taking in the beauty of our west coast as they take on the tough course. A Beginner and Team Relay races are also being organised to ensure the event is open to as many people as possible”, explained Nathan Farrugia, co-founder of the event.

Professionals athletes will take part to compete for the $7,500 pro prize purse while the top amateurs will win their entry into the coveted World XTERRA Championships, held every year in Hawaii. It is a great opportunity for Maltese athletes to compete on an international level without leaving our coast and an excellent way to play host as well as gain from home turf advantage.

The Minister of Tourism, Dr Edward Zammit-Lewis praised the organisers and the partnership with the MTA for the initiative and the drive to develop and attract quality tourists to our Islands in off-peak months. This niche market is true to the government’s strategy to boost tourism throughout the year, particularly in slower winter periods. Indeed, the scope of this partnership fits in with the goals to attract quality tourists that appreciate nature, expect high quality accommodation and want to experience culture and history as well as the beauty of our landscape.

Mr Paul Bugeja, CEO of the MTA welcomed the opportunity to partner with Hellfire Events, who have been organising quality sports events for the past 5 years, including a race around Gozo in May every year. The partnership will strengthen the portfolio of travel incentives to tourists and diversify the range of reasons why a traveller would choose Malta or Gozo as their preferred destination. The MTA will further support the initiative through marketing XTERRA MALTA through their wide-spread reach of offices and their visitmalta.com online portal.

Mr Matthew Pace, the President of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, emphasised the importance of off-season events like this to attract tourists to Malta and boost hotel and restaurant occupancy. XTERRA participants are recognised as high quality tourists with higher than average spending power that are interested in good hotels and cultural experiences.

The Press had the opportunity to watch a short video of the local triathlon that will be re-branded as the XTERRA MALTA race. A link to the video can be found here. http://youtu.be/K3rlEJ2-b6M and a shorter promo here http://youtu.be/zTY9dwQJ1pQ

XTERRA international will be represented at the race and encouraging their XTERRA TV coverage, and promoting Malta through their 3 million website views per annum, extensive coverage on various print media and through their dedicated ‘tribe’ newsletter.