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The Real Ultraman: Burn the Limits, Live the Legacy

Author Series

Join Charlie Sarmiento, author of "The Real Ultraman: From Dreamer to Achiever" for a soul-stirring evening that will awaken your fire, expand your mindset, and inspire you to discover the extraordinary within. From pain to purpose, from limits to legacy- witness the rise of a man who chose to transcend. Ages 18 years +. To register and for more information contact the branch at 305-442-8706 or capleybr@mdpls.org.

Author’s biography

Charlie Sarmiento is a Guatemalan-born athlete, entrepreneur, and author whose journey transcends borders, disciplines, and limits. His story is one of grit, loss, transformation — and ultimately, legacy.

Charlie’s path began with education as his first summit. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance and later earned an MBA in Marketing from INCAE Business School, one of Latin America’s premier institutions. His academic rigor laid the groundwork for a career defined by both strategic vision and heart-led leadership.

For over 14 years, Charlie served in executive roles across Latin America and the United States, where he led in sectors ranging from banking to sports tech. But even while wearing a suit, he was already preparing for something greater. Behind every boardroom decision, there was a fire — a calling to create impact beyond the confines of convention. That fire led him to become a serial entrepreneur. He launched ventures like Vertikal Sports Performance, Guatemala’s first high-performance training facility for endurance athletes, and Zero Sixty, a sports tech distributor.

Most notably, he is the founder and CEO of Vertikal X, a U.S.-based sports technology platform built to rank and enable underrepresented athletes by connecting them with sponsors, brands, and opportunity. Now headquartered in Austin, Texas, Vertikal X is part of the International Accelerator and represents a bold vision of the future of sports equity and innovation. But perhaps Charlie’s most iconic identity is that of the endurance athlete — not by accident, but by survival.

In 2015, after losing his father and struggling with depression, he discovered ultra trail running. What began as therapy soon became transcendent. Over the next decade, Charlie would represent Guatemala on the world stage, competing in The Ultra Trail World Championship in Spain, the Skyrunning World Championship in Portugal and in 2025, he is taking Guatemala to the Norseman XTRI World Championship in Norway, one of the toughest triathlons on Earth.

Charlie has raced in over 28 ultramarathons and extreme triathlons, across more than 50,000 km, ranking in the Top 150 globally in both the Ultra Trail World Tour and the Xtri World Tour.

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