Thursday 10 November 2011

Team Mountain Designs finish XPD Adventure Racing World Championships

Our Team celebrates our 13th place finish in the Adventure Racing World Championships XPD with a big feast at the "Top of the Town" with our fantastic support crew and race volunteer Aunty Jan! We finished the race in great spirits with a literally lightning fast ride to Burnie from Boat Harbour as a massive thunderstorm lashed out and rain and fierce head winds tried to slow us down ..........but with Superman (Lukey) on the front towing the injured Pikey and Monster (Gary) pushing from behind.....there was nothing stopping us getting to the elusive finish line! We were greeted with lost of familiar faces and the customary XPD finish of Champagne and Pizza on the lounge and had out requests for HOT CHICKEN met too thanks to the volunteer grapevine and live blog system. We needed that chicken at the end of the big trek out of mid camp as Kim had a bout of gastro and was low on energy........but when there was nothing in the town.......we used it as our carrot to get us to the finish. This race was just amazing, the places we went were just unbelievably spectacular and we had to draw on all our physical and mental strength just to get to the end......as the legs were long and demanding........ie at the end of the 150k bike leg, we had 10k to go, Pikey had a sore knee and gastro, so we get a 5k mud trek that took us 5hrs and then a 5k up hill.......we thought we'd finish at 8, but got in at 1am. There were moments of respite due to the dark zones......we had a great sleep at the TA and a bit extra for Pikey's tummy to settle before we set off the paddle the rapids in the Arthur River, then a forced camp out over night as the dark zone started at 7.30pm.......so we lit a fire and dried our clothes and cooked up some nice warm food but "just adding hot water from the jet boil. We used all our compulsory thermals, and fleeces and spares on this leg and got so much use out of our Mountain Designs Goretex Flash Jackets on almost every leg throughout the race........so we were always as warm and toastie for the cold water splashing us as we thrashed through the rapids. We had a 70k bike after this and what we thought was a "straight forward" 25k coastal trek, but another twist saw this leg taking us 11hrs due to the difficulty of the nav on rocks in the dark up to Anniversary Point, and a tricky CP in a creek line on that hill near Sisters Beach that was barely there........but as mentioned when we got to Boat Harbour there was nothing going to stop Team Mountain Designs from crossing that line! So we finish proudly 3rd Australian Team in a very respectable time of around 6 days and 22hrs......we are already planning our next adventure.

Thanks again to our awesome sponsors -  Mountain Designs, Tri Adventure, Salomon, Hammer Nutrition as our gear never let us down and suited all the conditions perfectly, we would also like to make a special mention to MOXIE GEAR for proving the team with Moxie Gaitors.......these gaitors we wore on all the trek legs and they kept us from getting mud/sand/dirt in our Salomon shoes, and we all agree that they are the best gaitor on the market for adventure racing. The Hammer FIZZ tabs were a great asset to the team nutrition plan as when Pikey & I got a bit of gastro the tabs provided what we needed to help us prevent dehydration. Pikey rode the new GIANT Carbon XTC 29er during the race and loved it........we all want one now......light, durable, great at handling any conditions on the Tassie Trails .......and my trusty GIANT Anthem didn't miss a beat either.

Tuesday 1 November 2011