79 teams from all over the world started the 730 km race which included mountain biking, trekking, kayaking, swimming, technical rope work and orienteering. This was a true, expedition-style course through the wilderness of Tasmania, Australia, which four-person teams had to navigate using maps, compass and landmarks.
Team SportsWorld from Hong Kong competed in the race and fuelled themselves with Expedition Foods. We caught up with Matt McLaughlin from Team SportsWorld last month.
"Just back from the World Champs! We made it! 43rd overall (40th mixed team) out of the 78 teams that started the race. It was TOUGH! 9.5 days, 700km+, long legs and little sleep (we averaged less than 2 hours sleep per day over the whole course!) The expedition meals were excellent!"
Team Name: SportsWorld Hong Kong
Team Members: Matt McLaughlin, Kurt Lynn, Bobette Burdick, Pierre Le Magnan
Race: XPD Tasmania 2011, the Adventure Racing World Championships
Team Race Result: 40th place Premier Mixed Team division
Most challenging moment of the race: Managing our sleep and staying warm.
How much sleep did you get? Average of 2 hours per day for 9.5 days.
How do you choose what gear to use for such a race? Based on reliability and weight.
Favourite/most useful/indispensable piece of gear/clothing? Ay-Up lighting system (lightweight, long-burn time, great illumination), and EPIC carbon fibre wing paddles (light, efficient, strong).
How did you handle nutrition for the race? We planned on 4000-5000 calories per day per person. This was made up of:
2 x Expedition Foods 800kCal meals per team member per day
2 x 750ml servings of protein shake
2 x 2ltr servings of Accelerade
1 x bag of race mix (nuts, lollies, mini-choc bars, choc covered almonds and coffee bars)
1 x small bag of beef jerky per day
Supplemented by junk food in the gear boxes at transitions, plus instant potato mix, plus food and coffees purchased at shops along the way!
Here are comments the team had on the Expedition Foods meals they chose:
Porridge with Strawberries
Matt: "The Porridge with Strawberries was our favourite breakfast treat. Our meals were distributed at random amongst our team of 4, and anyone silly enough to admit that they were having this flavour for brekkie got chased around the campfire, as the rest of us tried to steal the meal!"
Kurt: "This was my favourite out of all the Expedition 800 KCal range. During the course of a recent 10 day non-stop adventure race, I had it hot, cold, for breakfast and for dinner!"
Spaghetti Bolognese
Kurt: "The spag bol is great - I only got to eat it mixed with cold water and enjoyed it, so can only imagine how yummy it must be made with boiling water!"
Vegetable Tikka with Rice
Matt: "The Vege Tikka was a welcome sight any time it appeared in our gear boxes. I had one as a treat after one particularly brutal and cold riverbed trek, and it pushed me onwards for the subsequent section on Lake Macintosh."
Shepherd's Pie
Kurt: "I ate this meal towards the end of a 30 hour bike section in a long adventure race - it was just what I needed to refuel and keep going! Big serving, tasty, lots of energy, perfect!"
