In the Middaugh family of Vail, Colo., the children have little need for lectures about the virtues of persistence and patience.

For relevance, the try-try-try-again speech has been eclipsed by the shining example set by their father, Josiah, who won the Xterra World Championship last year on his 15th try.

Or, as Josiah likes to put it, “the 15th time was the charm.”

After two runner-up finishes and six placings in the top four, Middaugh finally won the world’s premier off-road triathlon, a title he will defend Sunday against an all-star international field on Maui.

The 38-year-old Middaugh clearly likes a challenge and after the births of his three children, ages 12, 11 and 6, winning the worlds took on more meaning for the 12-time U.S. champion. “Something changed for me. I felt like I had to be more of a role model,” he said. “If you fall off your bike or have a flat tire you just get up, dust yourself off and keep going. You don’t pout, you keep pushing forward.”

After winning the title, Middaugh said, “I think they are old enough to draw some confidence from it, too.”

The Xterra World Championship is a culmination of nearly 100 events spread across 16 countries and 30 U.S. states qualifying 800 athletes for a grueling 1-mile rough-water swim, 20-mile bike ride and 6.5-mile trail run.

Middaugh, who first glimpsed the 21-year-old Xterra World Championships on TV and went out and bought a used bike at a pawn shop for $200 to take up the quest, found the multi-faceted competition suited his personality and late-bloomer abilities.

A record-holder at his Michigan high school in the 2-mile run and pole vault, he’s embraced challenges across a wide spectrum, including snowshoe racing.

“I struggled and crashed a bunch of times (on the bike) because it was my first time,” said Middaugh, who remained undeterred. “I remember from my first year to my second year I improved my time by 45 minutes.”

Still, for all the work he put in and all the improvements he made, Middaugh acknowledges wondering, “I wasn’t sure if it (the world title) was ever gonna happen. “

All this while juggling a couple of jobs and recovering from multiple knee surgeries.

He remembers thinking, “‘I’ve got to win by the time I’m 35,’ then nothing happened. Then, I was 37 and I didn’t know how many more years I was gonna have left in my career. It wasn’t that I was going to hang it up, I just wasn’t sure if the peak had come — and gone — already. Luckily it hadn’t and I just tried to keep working on all the little things until it finally worked out,” becoming the first American in 15 years to win.

But he also said the pursuit “didn’t feel like 15 years, and I was doing something that I loved.”

Along the way he gave himself mental boosts and reminders by labeling his breakfast ingredients. On ceramic containers of nuts, fruit and granola he said he would affix duct tape labels of “courage” and “determination.”

As for “perseverance,” well, he’s already demonstrated heaping helpings of that.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.