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  XPD
Expedition Racing Team
This healthy energy drink is considered
magical by these extreme athletes!
Adventure Racing is a
multi-discipline, multi-faceted and a multi-day style of outdoor,
non-stop, endurance racing. XPD Expedition is an Australian race
organized and run by Geocentric Adventure Racing (GAR), and
serves as the ultimate, international adventure race in
Australia.
During February/March 2005 the XPD race was
held in Tasmania, Australia. Competitors raced for potentially 10 days from
the Nut at Stanley to Cornelian Bay in Hobart, via local landmarks
such as the Arthur River, Sandy Cape, Pieman River, Mount Roland,
Cradle Mountain-Lake St Claire National Park, Derwent River and
Mount Wellington. The
700km course included disciplines of navigation, mountain
biking, trail walking, canoeing and abseiling.
Advanced
Cellular Technology
helped our team endure the arduous XPD 2006, bringing home an
excitable 25 placing out of 47 teams! Without ACT
we’d likely still be drifting somewhere on the Pieman River, asleep
amongst Huon Pines! Here are some of our moments of joy:
The morning of day 3 was extremely difficult as
lack of sleep, physical exhaustion from yesterday’s 78km beach
hike, and cold, windy weather took their toll on us. We only
needed to paddle 15km up a tidal Pieman River,
but our bodies just would
not wake up at 0400hrs, so we prayed for ACT to act! It
did! We woke within 10 minutes of gulping down the magical
drink and made it into dock on time! We were two-thirds through a 173km mountain bike
from Corinna, on Tasmania’s West Coast, to Gowrie Park, an old hydro
town at the base of Mount Roland in the north-west coast. A rear
axle is a major necessity, so when it breaks all hell can break
loose! But some cool and challenging thinking broke the stricken
bike into pieces, strapped it to our backs and slowly we continued
our adventure.
Without ACT energy I’d surely not have been able to carry the extra
10kg of bike frame for 50km to our next major checkpoint, let alone
wake up the next morning!
Four hours of running is not my idea of having
fun, but to keep good pace in XPD I needed to know I could do
it! I decided to take the team on a little known track up alongside
the Wilmot River on the northwest coast of Tasmania; a track I’d
used only once before! We travelled at a leisurely pace as we knew
it could end up being more adventurous than we’d like due to the
heavy vegetation, isolation and steep topography. We had a wonderful
time and returned as planned, except for some very tired and
fatigued legs.
When I
arrived home I thought I’d try and soothe my aches with ACT,
and it worked! Within 15 minutes , apart from bruised knees, I was
able to walk about normally doing duties about my home, so I know my
wife certainly endorses this healthy drink!
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