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.

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Lead up to XPD Tassie World Champs

                                                  A few sherbets en route to Tassie

Team Mountain Designs – Final Preparation for XPD Adventure Racing World Championships

Burnie, Tasmania will have around 90 teams of four, from 23 countries arriving over the next few days, all with one common goal – to compete and finish XPD World Adventure Racing Championships 2011. Teams from all over the world have qualified for their spot in the world championships through participation in the Adventure Racing World Series Events in counties such as UK, Canada, Equador, Switzerland, France and Costa Rica and will be joined by a large contingent of Aussie Teams like “Team Mountain Designs” who have managed to gain a spot in this prestigious event based on solid performances in recent Adventure races in Australia. 

Our team consisting of Gary Sutherland, Kim Beckinsale, Andrew Pike and Luke Haines are finalising sorting all our equipment and backing off our training schedule so we are ready come race day -Wednesday 2^nd November 2011. Thanks to Tri Adventure www.triadventure.com.au for the financial and IT /media support through our website page so we are able to acknowledge the ongoing support of our major sponsors. We know that the products we have tried and tested in the months leading up to the XPD will help us perform to the best of our ability in all conditions during the 6-10 days of extreme adventure in Tasmania’s wild, wild west. You can follow our progress on the live spot tracker which you will find by going to the official race website http://www.xpd.com.au/

Our Sponsors and a snapshot of some of the products we will be using in XPD

Mountain Designs – Mountain Designs “Flash” Gore-tex Waterproof Breathable Jacket, Mountain Designs “Merino Thermals”, Mountain Designs “Polypro Thermals”, Mountain Designs “Evaporaid” Performance Shirts, Mountain Designs Coolmax Socks, Mountain Designs Polar Fleece.

Salomon     

Packs:- the boys will use the XA Sky 30 Plus for lightweight performance and plenty of space for all the gear and Kim will use the XA 20 as the boys will be carrying most of the gear

Shoes:- Kim will use XT Wings and the boys will wear XT Wings S Lab 4 for the longer rougher treks and we will all use the Speedcross  for any shorter legs especially if there is a beach trek as they are super light weight and fast!

 

Hammer Nutrition- 

We will be using the following products during the race. The Hammer Bars are very special as they are organic and raw and assist in maintaining a healthy functioning body, Hammer Gels for instant energy, Heed for hydration, Perpetuem for recovery and Endurolytes Fizz to maintain electrolyte balance.

Team Mountain Designs Prepares for XPD

Luke has been off racing! Yes he finished a close 2^nd to Jarrod Kohlar in the very prestigious UPPER MURRAY CHALLENGE two weeks ago and is backing up this weekend at the FREYCINET LODGE CHALLENGE in the beautiful Tasmania……not the exact site for XPD but he will get a feel for the terrain and weather!

 

Kim has been on holidays now for 3 weeks and loving her break from teaching to prepare for XPD. She has just completed a 90k TREK from Noosa to Rainbow Beach along “The Great Cooloola Walk” with a loaded pack and returned to Noosa by MOUNTAIN BIKE……..great preparation for XPD!

Gary has been doing his XPD training by getting blown out to sea PADDLING in 60 knot winds for hours following this the next day with a pretty gnarly TREK 7hrs in some of the thickest steepest, rockiest, loosest, every prickle and wait-a-while you can imagine. To top it off he lost the map half way (when a large rock gave way on a cliff face) and had to do the rest on map memory!  Battered, bruised, ripped up from head to toe and exhausted, he took the next day off to lick the wounds before getting back out there amongst it!

Andrew aka Pikey has been doing some CYCLOCROSS racing and…….word has it he has also practicing YOGA and PILATES! As we all know the inner self needs special attention when preparing for XPD!

Hells Bells 2011 – Victory for Team Mountain Designs

Hells Bells 2011 – Victory for Team Mountain Designs

Well, what can I say……Gary’s magical mystery tour this year certainly took us on a route to victory without too many hiccups!

Leg 1 – Trek - Parklands

This year for Hells Bells we had QRA ROUGE 8 course organiser - Liam St Pierre racing with us……Gary nicknamed him GIGANTOR…….we felt like we were in Gulliver’s travels when we set of on the first run leg. The Cycle Zone Boys really took it out hard……we backed off a bit and made our way to CP A passing may of the Fairy Bells teams …….. I could lead Gary straight to CP’s C & B and entry point to CP D before passing Terry and John boy and other trail care guys on our way from E to G along VW trail…… local knowledge helped as it’s like a spaghetti bowl of trails in there! CP G was a spectacular spot into a small waterfall….we were in and out of there quickly and soon out on the track to the Kayak…..and got into the TA ahead of all other Hells Bells teams.

LEG 2 Kayak – Maroochy River 

We were very cautious when selecting our craft........as last year we got a dud kayak that had a blown side wall, as we paddled it sank and we had to stop and empty it numerous times and lost about 20mins as a result…..so we checked this one carefully……especially the floor as sometimes the valves can leak and your boat can fill up fast. We took turns and pumping and we were the first Hells Bells team on the water…… it was a very hot day and the splashes of cool water were very refreshing. We managed to maintain our lead against CYCLE ZONE and on the way back saw Tri Adventure Vintage looking like a well-oiled machine and many other Hells Bells teams zigzagging SEVLORS their way to CP 2. Tri Adventure turtles were moving swiftly amongst other Fairy Bells teams as we paddled by and then we played a bit of dodgem kayaks with Cycle Zone boys. We maintained our lead with some slick portaging skills over the rocks …… our Salomon Speed Cross 2 shoes proved effective …… leaping into the kayaks and paddling off quickly……leaving Gary behind, oops! We headed up to the TA and refuelled thanks to Hammer Nutrition!

 LEG 3 MTB – Parklands to Maranatha Camp

Gigantor (AKA Liam) was looking forward to the bike……but then we heaps this Pshshshsssssssss …….as white stuff spewed out his back tyre……we hadn’t even made it to the forest yet……so we stopped ……spun the wheel…..pumped it a bit……rode up the hill……it didn’t go dead flat…..so out came Gary’s CO2 bomb, and it worked (luck was on our side……as the tyre stayed up for the entire race). We enjoyed the nice technical trails of Parklands such as Road Rage, Ho Chi Ho (CP 5), T Track (CP6) , Cancer Tree (CP 7) and just skirted along Cobong Circuit Track to CP8 where we met with the TRIADVENTURE Pickle Lickers who were having a great time on the trails! We hightailed it out onto the road, out through Yandina to Maranatha Camp.

Leg 4 High Ropes /Trek

We were signed in by Big Gav (who was celebrating his 50^th Birthday volunteering….way to go Gav) and soon we were being prepped for the ropes. We were about 10minutes behind in 2^nd (some due to the flat) and watched other teams tip toe along the ropes and fly down the flying fox as we waited for our turn. We had a slick transition to the trek, marked up maps and we soon set off up to Mt Wappa! It is here that we made up some significant time on other teams by finding a small trail that lead up the spur to the top and CP 11 (others we hear took some not so easy routes up to this CP fighting through thick head high blackboy forests and scaling steep cliffs). We descended quickly, sighting last year’s winners - Spin City Cycles and managed to catch the leaders Cycle Zone at CP 12, we trekked into the creek junction at CP 13 together and came in at the TA about the same time.  

 Leg 5 & 6 Mtb / Trek / Archery

On the bikes out to the Yandina Trailhead…… James and Jen from Photo Events were driving past as we made our way to the next leg……James was out the side of the van snapping way……..we were all having fun J

We head out on the trek with the Cycle Zone guys hot on our heels……. We all find CP16 in the Nadier of the track……and then I take off…..I know that the tracks ahead do not do what it shows on the map…..so I just run……Gary starts towing Gigantor….as I accelerate up to the top of Mt Bottle ad Glass. I know exactly where the CP 17 is and we head straight to it……through “Tri Adventure” I have explored these trails extensively following Hells Bells 2009…… and it pays off! We punch the CP , there is no sight of other teams……we pick up trails to 18 and 19 easily, put a few Fairy Bells teams back on track and head back to the TA picking up CP20 along the way! Archery…… Gary had been practicing…….but he was no match Gigantor who excels and we get 15 points….we serve our penalty and leave the TA before any other teams.

Leg 7 MTB

We had a good lead……but you can’t get too confident……so we cruise along with Gary navigating cautiously as the Google maps are a little hard to read. At CP22 we find a Fairy Bells team unable to find the CP……Gary points out that there is a little map inset which highlights some creek lines……we trek to the top punch and out we go……this CP proves to be quite challenging for many teams! Soon a big climb up Towen Mountain……and guess what Gary (the machine) tows Gigantor…….yes all the way up that big hill to the bus stop! I am happy cause I can keep up and so I punch the control card all the way home……we near the end take a sight detour up Buderim hill, but I alert Gary that we don’t want to go there……so we punch our final CP 26 and head to the finish! It is just before midnight, we cross the line, and we are rewarded with a lovely bottle of champagne thanks to Craig – Race Organiser from Geocentric! We sip champagne as we wait for the second team to arrive!

So a great result and a great race, great team……Liam’s first race for Team MD’s and his first AR win and my first Hells Bells win…..and great preparation leading into XPD for Team Mountain Designs.

Kim Beckinsale – Team Mountain Designs

http://www.triadventure.com.au/teammountaindesigns.html

Adventure Race Australia Dark Side Championships

The Adventure Race Australia Dark Side Championships went well for us last weekend. We had a hard fought win over a physically demanding course, beating home the two teams that beat us at another popular Adventure Race - Hells Bells, last year.

The opening ceremony, with music and team torch lighting (Survivor style) got us fully awake and raring to go for the midnight start.

After a pre-race chat we decided to not go out to hard or lead early, but it only took about 10 seconds for us to hit the lead, for one of our fastest starts ever, gaining 20 minutes on the field in the first 2 hrs. We progressed through the course at a solid pace without seeing another team!

Luke our 4th and newest member of the team was a big asset to the team as he and I traded off the navigation duties without a hitch, which was a great as we plan to do this at XPD the World Championships of Adventure Racing in Tasmania, November 2011. Andrew and Kim worked extremely well on the checkpoint descriptions and control punching.

The Mountain Designs Gore-Tex Jackets and Merino base layer thermals got a workout in the cool conditions.  With a solid dumping of rain over the course 8hrs before the start, we bought the Salomon Speed-Cross 2’s out to play and on the slippery tracks, they were unbelievably effective! There were some brutally steep hills which gave you little opportunity to eat, so the Hammer Gels also got a test, keeping us strong throughout.

So over all a great team effort and a good indicator we are on track for a good performance at the World AR Champs. Thank you to our sponsors – Mountain Designs, Salomon, Hammer Nutrition and Tri Adventure, as this race truly tested sponsors products and they definitely got us across the line in good shape.

“In 2 Adventure” did a first class job on the course, logistics, before and after social events, and staging of the race. There was heaps of sponsor’s exposure everywhere.

Kim & I back up this weekend for Hells Bells and hopefully we can keep the good form rolling on.

Gary - Team Mountain Designs