Geoquest Gear review

As you probably already know, we have been fortunate to receive some great support from our sponsors, in particularly Macpac. Rob and Kathryn had a great time supermarket-sweep style shopping at Melbourne’s Hampton East Macpac store a few weeks before Geoquest to pick up some great gear for the race. One of the cardinal rules of Adventure Racing is to never use new untested gear in a race, but this rule had to be broken especially for Damon and Richard who were still taking labels off clothes on the start line. Though as Richard explained in his victory speech, the gear performed exceptionally well even straight off the shelf.

The Macpac Spring Sale has just started. To check out all the amazing prices head to the Macpac Outlet website.

And to check out the Macpac Wilderness Club (MWC) to get discounted prices on non sale items

AMP Race 25 Pack RRP $199.95 MWC from $179.95	The Amp Race 25 has all the functionality of the larger Amp Race 40. Its sleek lines and compact capacity suits the adventure racing professional or those competing in short course events or day hiking trips.This pack really ticks all the boxes for an AR of 24hrs-5 days. Plenty of accessible pockets, comfortable padding and big enough for a dozen or so packets of pringles which should keep you going for a while.
AMP 12 Hour RRP $129.95 MWC from $116.95	This smaller pack is more suited to Sprint AR and long trail runs. With room for a 3L drink bladder, some extra clothing and a few really useful pockets for food I can see this pack getting a lot of use in training and shorter races.
Traverse Jacket eVent Men's RRP $449.95 MWC from $404.95 Sale from $299.95	Compact and lightweight at 339gm. The Traverse is made from a lightweight 3-layer eVent fabric (rip-stop) with midweight 3-layer eVent fabric shoulders. We were lucky with the weather conditions for Geoquest, finishing before the heavy rain storms. However the Jacket got plenty of use while packing the cars the next morning!
Geothermals L/S RRP $39.95 MWC from 35.96 Sale from $14.95	This thermal has all the good properties of polypro (warm when wet) but without the negatives (smelly, daggy looking). I wore this top for the whole last 24hrs of this years Geoquest I liked it so much. Check out the sale price- it is amazing!
Merino 150 L/S Zip Men's RRP $119.95 MWC from $107.95	Woollen clothing have improved in leaps and bounds over the last few years to the point that they can now be used for serious physical activity such as Adventure Racing. The benefits of Merino fabric are the comfort and the fact that they are very smell retardant- that is you can race several days in the same clothes without competitors being able to follow your scent.
Rapid S/S Crew Men's RRP $49.95 MWC from $44.96 Sale Price $24.95	The Rapid Crew shirt is made of a lovely silky material and feels great. And the sale price makes it hard to go past.
SILVA OMC 66 AR compass $85 Team Macpac Captain Rob Preston is a SILVA ambassador so get in touch via email	You will never have an excuse the compass on your wrist the entire race. The Jet needle is super fast and the position of the compass makes it comfortable and an ease to use in all disciplines
SILVA Jet 5 Baseplate compass $140	I always carry a SILVA baseplate compass but only use it for the tougher off road navigation requiring more accuracy. And the AMP 25 pack has a great pocket on the shoulder strap to keep it nice and convenient.
Moxie Gear Gaiters	Australian Adventure racer Darren Clarke has designed these great addition to the gear list. Lightweight and comfortable, these gaiters can be worn for long periods and don’t get in the way when cycling or paddling either.