ARWC 2011 photos by Ben Wolstencroft

		ARWC 2011 photos by Ben Wolstencroft VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Four weeks until the big one!

In four weeks time today we will have started the 2011 edition of XPD, which this year doubles as the AR World Championships in Burnie, Tasmania. Since our last race together in June we've all been busy preparing for this race, which is our focus for the year. Recently, Rob and Josh have spent several hours chasing each other around the Upper Murray Challenge multisport race course in north east Victoria finishing 4th and 5th. Damon's been spending his time telling Rob and Josh that they were lucky he wasn't there or they would have been down a place in the results.

To compete in an event like this we all put in many hours of training per week. The more you do pre-race, the less the event is going to hurt. That's how it works for me anyway! I've just spent two weeks exploring the endless hills behind Fairhaven and Airey's Inlet on the Great Ocean Road, plus plenty of hills west of Brisbane. Here's a couple of photos of those areas.

Airey's Inlet, Great Ocean Rd

Northbrook Gorge, Brisbane

Looking after the body is particularly important in maintaining high volume training. We need to thank one of our sponsors for helping keeping us all injury free (MTB crashes don't count - they're 'unfortunate accidents', not injuries!) for 2011 after some specific overuse issues that saw me miss a couple of races last year. With disciplined use of our Trigger Point Therapy tools I've kept the muscles nice and supple which has kept my troublesome achilles at bay. It's like getting daily massages without the cost. Have a look at their website and check out their products. Kristian would be more than happy to help with any queries.

So, with less than three weeks before we leave, our preparations are all going well. We're looking forward to having the opportunity to race a World Championship in our home country without the usual issues of jet-lag and excess luggage expenses!

2011 Race Calender - Geoquest and XPD

It's now February and we are well into the planning for the races that we will do this year. There are 2 major Australian Races that we will definitely be racing. It also happens that this year we will be returning as defending champions for both of them.

The Geoquest 48hr race has just announced that it will be held again on the Queens Birthday weekend on the northern coast of NSW with headquarters to be located in Nambucca Heads. This year will be the 10th anniversary and said to be a special edition of the race including "a birthday cake, of course". Having done this race many times before we'll again be returning this year. In fact, Damon and I have raced in every one of the previous 9 races. We won the race last year as the "Mexicans" so will be hoping for another good race this year. However, we're also expecting a much larger and stronger field as many teams will be using this race as a good hit-out before XPD which this year hosts the World Championships.

Our major focus for the year will be the XPD expedition race to be held at the beginning of November. We have won the previous 2 editions of this race; Cairns in 2010, and the Australian Alps in 2008. We will be aiming for 3 in a row, but clearly with the event this year being the Adventure Racing World Championships we expect things to be a little tougher! It was recently announced that the west coast of Tasmania will the location of the race, with HQ to be announced soon. With three of us having raced XPD in 2006 (which was also held in Tasmania) we know that Tasmania has so much to offer with it's rugged mountains and remote wilderness.

Check out this short video of what we can expect in Tasmania this November.....

Thanks again for the continued support from:

Blackheart

Salomon

Shotz Nutrition

Silva

Aussie Butt Cream

Champion Systems

Trigger Point Therapy