By Patrick Lujan

While the Pacific Games kicked off in Papua New Guinea, Guam pro triathlete Charlie Epperson was doing remarkable things in China.

Epperson captured the ‘King of the Grasslands’ award, part of the Genghis Khan Adventure MTB and Marathon, finishing first place in a grueling three-day event (July 3-5) in Inner Mongolia, China that looked like this:

Day 1: 70K Mountain Bike
Day 2: (am) 42K Trail Marathon (pm) 40K Mountain Bike 
Day 3: 100K Mountain Bike

“I have never done a multi-day stage race or for that matter raced a good marathon, it should be an experience if nothing else,” Epperson said before the race.

Epperson, a multiple GSPN Athlete of the Year Nominee, finished the three days with a total time of 10 hours, 37 minutes, 19 seconds to top 75 total finishers. Twenty six athletes did not finish the event.

And to add to Charlie’s ‘awesomeness’, he just finished off his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore last month. His dissertation was on “India’s strategy to counter industrial water pollution: Have prevention efforts led to protecting the Ganga River?”

NOTE: Inner Mongolia is not in Mongolia…it’s in China!

Charlie Epperson stands on the podium as the winner of China’s ‘King of the Grasslands’ event.

This is a sample of the terrain in Inner Mongolia, China that Charlie Epperson endured to be named ‘King of the Grasslands’. (photo from mongoliamountainbikes.com)