WOLLONGONG professional triathlete Ben Allen is a rarity. Not because he also competes in a form of triathlon a tad different to the version most of us are used to. And not because he sprinkles chia seeds over his breakfast. He’s an Australian national treasure because, well, he beats Poms. Regularly. In fact, at the recent Xterra England Championship, he beat a whole field of them. He had to watch that his celebrations didn’t get too out of hand, though – his better half, Jacqui Slack, a fellow Xterra star and women’s winner in England, just happens to be English ...

The sport of Xterra is off-road triathlon, featuring swimming, mountain-biking and trail-running legs. Your average event might demand a 500m swim through a pristine national park lake, a 15km bike ride across rocky, mountainous terrain, and

a 5km trail run through breathtakingly beautiful rainforest, with distances roughly doubled for the big-stage events. To

say Allen is one of the top guns of the men’s Xterra universe would be an extreme understatement. His email signature reads thus: two-time Xterra Asian Triple Crown World Tour champion, 11-time Xterra World Tour race champion, Xterra Trans Tasman champion, Ironman 70.3 podium, runner-up at USA Xterra and Xterra Warrior Award champion.

Needless to say Allen is a front-runner in the Xterra World Tour as well, a 24-leg series which traverses the globe. Inside Sport caught up with Allen with the Xterra World Championships rapidly approaching (Maui, October 27). As you’ll discover, he’s a champion preparer as well as a mongrel competitor. And hey, if Jacqui wins her race at the upcoming Worlds, we just might even send a cheer for her, too ...

NO DRAFTING

“A major difference between Xterra and regular triathlons is that there’s a gap between you and your fellow competitor while you’re out on the bike. The minimum distance between your front wheel and the competitor ahead of you is seven metres – it can be stretched to 12m depending on the course. To me, this version is more of an honest racing format. You’re on the bike pushing as hard as you can. In draft-legal races, you’re racing against another person; you can team up and help each other in order to ride faster. Often you’re aiming to save a bit of energy here and there.