for post-race competitors and their rooting sections alike.
January 31, 2025 – There will be blood blisters. There will be sweat and suffering. There will be goosebumps, surprise victories and bucket-list achievements too.
And there will be a lot more where that came from, specifically boutique wine tasting, full-fledged beach parties and a live music showcase.
Which is why what comes next might sound like hyperbole.
Only it is not.
In a tri-county area with California Roots Music and Arts Festival, Pebble Beach Food & Wine, Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, Big Sur Food & Wine, Sea Otter Classic, and Hop N’ Barley Beer & BBQ Festival, the Wildflower Triathlon Experience proves the craziest of them all.
In other words, it is deserving of its title as the “Woodstock of Triathlons.”
And not just crazy as in swimming-biking-running 70+ miles for six hours straight, or upwards of 4,000 racers from ages 8 to 78 competing across a dozen events, and nearly three times that many camping and glamping by 350 square miles of Lake San Antonio.
Crazy like 400+ Cal Poly Mustangs enjoying entertainment provided at their tent community called “Beach City” after volunteering all day.
Crazy like hundreds of thousands of dollars raised by Team in Training competitors to defeat lymphoma and leukemia.
And crazy like you went to a triathlon and a foodie party-wellness event-merchandise exhibition broke out.
But all that doesn’t happen for a while. Wildflower 2025 takes place May 2-4 in tiny Bradley, on the very edge of South Monterey County.
Which is why, just as Wildflower has re-bloomed into an atypical festival, this represents an uncommon Found Treasure, because it previews a fitness event that lingers a ways off in the future.
And that’s not because it will sell out, though some of the races and spa treatment slots might.
It’s because now is the time to start training.
Meanwhile the Wildflower Wellness Spa books post-race massages too.
For decades, the Wildflower Triathlon ranked as one of the toughest tests in the sport—the altitude profile, starring at least one steep, mile-long climb, looks like an ECG read out—and was formerly one of the few qualifiers for IronMan World Championships, drawing the most elite racers nationwide and beyond.
“No joke, it’s one of hardest half IronMans out there,” says longtime event ringleader Colleen Bousman, adding that Wildflower is widening the 2025 field for the collegiate championship category.
Back in 2018, Bousman and company looked at the stacked slate of races and challenged themselves to provide more ways to participate.
Now, as it returns from six years of COVID and dry lake bed darkness, Wildflower is reinvigorating those ambitions.
“When we revamped to be an experience, one of goals was to make it a complete destination weekend, expanding the festival side of things,” Bousman says. “It became a lifestyle event, and we’re continuing to expand on it.”
Even a short checklist of the activities, which complement on- and off-road sprints, Olympic- and Half IronMan-length triathlons, a 5K, 10K and kids race, runs hard and long.
Among them: a Wildflower Wellness Spa; bluegrass, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues, reggae and swing bands live on stage; free yoga sessions; standup paddle boarding; a well-appointed Wildflower Marketplace / Fitness & Lifestyle Expo; a Celebration Beer Garden; a range of food trucks and booths; gourmet coffee carts; and top-flight wine tasting.
The grub game already includes a swatch of SLO-area favorites like Batch Ice Cream, Central Coast Pizza Trolley, The Neighborhood, In Bloom, Cahoots Catering and The Green Truck.
“There’s a good blend of organic, specialty vegan and gluten-free, family-friendly, all-American and a little more international flair,” Bousman says. “We try to find a good mix, and find trucks that are based in SLO, Paso and Monterey.”
The wine, meanwhile, comes curated by Ali Rush, owner-operator of 15 Degrees C Wine Shop & Bar in San Luis Obispo.
In addition to flowing festival goers into a hand-picked wine sampling, she conducts tastings for triathlon clubs who deploy her to visit team headquarters, which range from traditional camping to tent cabins to mobile home setups.
For 2025, she’s also developed two Wildflower wines, a Rosé she describes as dry, light, fresh and floral— “reminiscent of those you would find in Provence,” she says—and a classic Central Coast red with Templeton fruit that’s “deep and complex with undertones of earth and spice.”
On top of being a small business owner who designs and preps the food at her popular wine venue, Rush is also a certified level two sommelier, winemaker for Dos Rancheras Vineyard, a mom, and—yes—a veteran Wildflower competitor who started back in her competitive Cal Poly water polo days.
It’s a dynamic portfolio that echoes the range and flavor Wildflower itself navigates.
And provides additional inspiration to get ready to race and/or relax.
More at the Wildflower Experience website.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
