Maybe it was in the tiny town of Hluboka in the Czech Republic, beneath a 13th century castle, where winners played CDs of Hawaiian musical to celebrate qualifying for their trips to Maui.

Or perhaps, it was Tahiti … or South Africa.

But somewhere along the ever-expanding world circuit, Tom Kiely said, "the light went on" that the Xterra World Championship had found its niche.

That was back in the late 1990s following the event’s uncertain 1996 debut on Maui. Sunday, when Xterra holds its 20th world championship on the Valley Isle, 850 competitors from 43 countries will compete in the globe’s foremost off-road endurance race for more than $100,000 in prize money and fame.

Covering Kapalua through the West Maui Mountains, the event consists of a 1-mile swim, a 20-mile mountain bike ride and 6.5-mile trail run. Past champions have done it in as little as two and a half hours.

Competitors range from ages 14 to 78, amateur and pro, across various divisions, and all must have qualified based upon finishes in one of the 32 countries or several states and more than 300 events where the Xterra World Tour is run.

The event is capped at 850 participants through a companion competition, Saturday’s trail run, which will draw another 1,500.

Together, counting competitors, family and friends, they draw 8,000 or more to Maui and the state and are seen by millions more on TV. The economic impact from direct visitor expenditures in 2014 was said to be $5.7 million.

"I’d like to tell you it is (all) the result of a great strategy," said Kiely, the CEO. "But it isn’t."

Fortuitous timing, a keen understanding of market trends and the ability to deliver a solid product year after year have made it the prestigious event it is.

Kiely had been promoting mountain biking and ocean events on Oahu for airing on ESPN when officials approached him in the mid-1990s about creating an event for the Maui Visitors Bureau. Kiely suggested a different type of triathlon. "They said, ‘but we don’t want to close (down) any roads" Kiely recalled. "We told them, ‘We’re not going to close any roads; we’re going off-road.’"

And, then he went in search of a pristine and challenging landscape — and permits to negotiate them.

The concept quickly struck a responsive chord with competitors who wanted to run more with nature than on asphalt. And word of mouth in a couple dozen tongues brought more countries clamoring to join the fold.

Through it all, Kiely will tell you, "The magic was undoubtedly Hawaii. If we didn’t have the world championship in Hawaii nobody would have known about us. Nobody would have cared. Eighty percent of our popularity is because the championships are in Hawaii." More than 90 percent of the participants are from out of state.

Initially the event was called "AquaTerra" but a conflict over the name sent Kiely & Co. in search of something better. "We came up with Xterra — "x" for numerical symbol for the unknown and ‘terra" for the Latin (word for) earth," Kiely said. "We thought it fit."

So, too, did the Nissan Motor Corporation, which liked the name so much it licensed it from Xterra for nine years for its all-terrain vehicle.

Thursday night Kiely was talking to an official from Denmark who wanted to introduce him to somebody from Hungary, who was interested in holding an event. "Then," he said, "there was a guy from Greece. … It is (becoming) like the United Nations."

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