Team Expedio transformed to Team Inov-8

As most of you will know, we at Aventure Group have a diversity of activities. One of those activities is High Beam which distributes high quality outdoor equipment for adventure loving New Zealanders. One of the products imported through High Beam is Inov-8, an increasingly popular range of trail shoes and accessories. Although Team Expedio has been a great platform for our regular outdoor adventures over the past couple of years, we're now transforming ourselves to Team Inov-8. To continue to follow us on our adventures please click through to our new page at www.teaminov-8.co.nz. We hope you enjoy!

XTERRA Auckland Trail Run Series Race #5

On Sunday 15^th August the team at Expedio took on the Whitford Forest for the 5^th instalment of the Auckland XTERRA Trail Series. The days prior had brought torrential rain so difficult conditions were expected.  Whitford has a nasty reputation for its misleading terrain and slippery surfaces and it certainly did not disappoint. The combination of heavy rain, a thin top layer of pine needles, and an under layer of clay, made for very difficult running conditions. In fact, a number of runners were seen sliding down hill sides on their backsides instead.

Richard, Emma, Pamela and myself (Reece) were all in attendance at this event. We all made sure to don our Inov-8 trail shoes, knowing they would save us significant amounts of time through the muddy and slippery trail sections. Pamela took on the 17.7km long course and finished first masters female and top ten overall. The rest of us foolishly took on the superlong course, with an unbelievable 1050 meters of elevation over the 21.8km distance. A steep, slippery and wet downhill section met us within the first few kilometres, alerting us to the fact it was going to be a tough day. Nonetheless, I had a solid day and finished 6^th overall. Emma was not far behind with a 2^nd place female open. Richard brought home the team with an impressive 1^st place male vet. 

XTERRA Auckland Trail Run Series Race #3

The third race in the Auckland XTERRA Trail Series was held at the Waiuku Forest last Saturday 3^rd July. Although the conditions were said to be quite good, the grimaces seen on competitors faces was enough evidence to know that it is a tough course out there. As per usual Team Expedio had a number of athletes in attendance including myself (Reece), Richard and Emma in the Superlong category and Pamela in the Long category.

Within the first kilometre of my race I knew it was going to be a tough day. Waiuku is not renowned for its painful elevation but rather its soft, deep sand. Anyone who has run on the beach will know that the softer the sand the more difficult the run. A large number of soft, sandy sections are what made the Waiuku course difficult. Matters were made more difficult with a number of these sections making their way uphill. In saying this however, I couldn’t help but marvel at the ocean views and high canopy pine forest  we were fortunate to run through.

Pamela was the first of the team back to base and took out the Female Master category very convincingly. I was second home with a tough but enjoyable  6^th in the Male Open category. Emma once again showed her class with a win in the Female Open category, more than three minutes clear of second place. Richard also won the Male Vet category.

Overall a good day for Team Expedio in an isolated, yet superb, location. Keep an eye out for us at the next race in Woodhill near the end of the month.

Coromandel Classic Preview

Last weekend Team Expedio took the opportunity to have a preview of parts of the Coromandel Classic course, and remind ourselves of what is in store late in August.

Last year's preview (an attempt at the day One run) didn't get any further then the river after the Pinnacles, with a raging torrent threatening to sweep the whole party away, and forcing us to retrace our steps back to the start. This year was not nearly as dramatic, with the river barely over the ankles, and persistent drizzle the only negative.

We cycled a section of the Kauaeranga Valley, ran the Pinnacles and out to Coroglen, and then cycled some more - some of the party through to Tairua, with others taking the easy option of a ride in the support vehicle.

Sunday the sun did not dawn.Instead there was mist and steady rain. Looking out the window of our accomodation in Tairua there was proof of just how much rain had fallen overnight , with a small lake on the back lawn. After ascertaining that none of the team were likely to melt in the rain we mounted the cycles, and headed into the rain towards Whangamata. Sure enough, the closer we came to Whangamata, the more the rain eased.

From there it was into the Day Two run. Since last year the first part of thetrack has had signifcant work done on it, and now resembles a very pleasant walk in the park. Even above the falls the track is in excellent condition, although the top part of the four wheel drive track is somewhat more beaten up.

Nevertheless all the team were surefooted throughout in our Inov-8's - this time everyone was equipped in Roclite 295's.

From the end of Wires Rd it was a short tired walk as we waited for the support vehicle to come the long way round.

Thanks to Al McFarlan and Susan Prater for support assistance.

Auckland XTERRA Riverhead

Three words sum up the third race of the Auckland XTERRA Trail Series – mud, mud, and mud! Although this was expected, it still didn’t stop the gasps of horror heard as Richard, Pamela and Emma made their way around the course. Riverhead has a nasty reputation for normally being quite muddy, but given the torrential downpours Auckland received throughout the week prior it wasn’t surprising the course was in the state it was in.

Nonetheless, all three attending members of Team Expedio donned their trusty Inov-8 trail shoes and subjected them to an environment they were designed for. A slightly modified course due to unexpected forestry works made the course even more interesting. Emma showed her class in her preferred off-road environment by dominating the womens field in the superlong distance. Pamela followed suit by coming out on top in the long distance. Meanwhile, Richard was busy getting himself lost. To his credit, he still received an impressive second place in the superlong distance.

The conditions at Riverhead were clearly difficult which gave trail shoes a huge advantage. Not surprisingly, the Team Expedio members flourished in these conditions and will undoubtedly be wearing their Inov-8’s in the upcoming Waiuku event.

Maungatautari Mission

Want to wake up at 4am on Saturday of a long weekend??!!  ....SURE!!!  ...doesn’t everybody??!

While a 4am wake-up call is not my first choice on how to start a long weekend, it would end up marking an exciting day...well, at least for me, it would!

Richard (Keene) entered us in the Adventure team category which meant we would be doing the entire race together ...no taking turns competing in different legs of the race as was my experience with previous multisport races.

Initially I was excited about the race as it meant I had something exciting planned for my long weekend, but as the race drew near, I suddenly realized I would be doing my very first  complete multisport race ...now my excitement had gone to a whole new level!!!

It was a cold crisp morning and as we biked the few hundred metres down to the race start, we couldn’t help but notice all the flash looking bikes and all the flash looking people!  ...so much for a down-to-earth, local race!

The race begun and our observations of there being ‘flash’ people in the race were confirmed ...the first pack was gone in the blink of an eye!!  

As we rode along the 32km road bike portion of the race, there seemed to be other riders quite insistent on leading the pack. Richard and I didn’t argue about letting them lead and sat comfortably near the front of our pack.

Arriving at the first transition, ever-experienced Support Crew Susan was there ready to help Richard and I onto the next portion of the race ...the 15km mountain run.  Exchanging bike gear for run gear, we were off and steadily climbed the hill which greeted all runners right at the start of this leg.

Now, I don’t have a heap of experience when it comes to off-road running, but there is one thing I’ve learned already, NEVER assume anything about an off-road run!!! SURE 15km may not seem that long compared to other races and SURE, I’ve done a few runs now which have been quite challenging so really, I should be somewhat ready for this run ...right?!! ...WRONG!! Okay, maybe we were ready, but Man! What a run it was! After about 2km of road and gravel road run, we hit the trails like I’ve never hit trails before!

We scrambled up ...and we clambered  down ...we carefully manoeuvred our ‘Rockstar’ Inov8 trail shoes over slippery roots and ran not very confidently through undergrowth which covered the trail making it impossible to see where our feet were landing .  We scrambled up for what seemed like ages! I did best to follow Richard’s lead but my 5’6” ‘sturdy’ built legs were no match for his 6’ long, lean off-road experienced legs!!  We stuck together and passed a number of people en route. It was cool to pass as many people as we did, especially on such a technical run. I ran my very best and silently hoped I wasn’t slowing Richard down too much.

The next leg was a 15km road bike, but never underestimate the smaller distance ...15km can be a long and hard way if you aren’t ready for it!! Richard and I rode the undulating route well and were thankful of a fellow competitor we met along the way – he knew the route so when we came across a fallen sign which was indicating which turn to take, he kindly told us the way.

We cruised down the hairpin turns which took us to the final transition and found Susan once again, ready and waiting for us. Exchanging bike gear for kayak gear, we headed into the water.

I was excited! I had fun today and was about to complete my first multisport race! The race wasn’t over yet though and has Susan pointed out, we were the leading Adventure team. ’No pressure?!! ..yeah, right !’ Kayaking is my least experienced discipline and I knew Richard would be paddling to my pace in order for us to stay together.

Off we went and while the water was flat, it felt like a slog! Was I more tired than I realized? Had I not fuelled right? Was it simply my inexperience coming through? A few more minutes went by and finally confessed to Richard about how hard it felt ...he was feeling the same way ...and to boot, we both felt like our boats were going all over the place! Turns out, there were heaps of weeds underneath and this was making the paddling much harder. Thank goodness! I thought it was just me!

Getting out of our boats wasn’t a pretty sight!  I suddenly had HUGE empathy for my mates who I had supported in their multisport races. I always noticed how competitors struggled to walk after paddling ....now I was experiencing the very thing!  Whoa! This walking after paddling was much worse than I realized!

And as if getting out of the boat and walking a few steps wasn’t bad enough, what made things worse was that the route to the finish line was about 400m up hill ...how mean is that?! Sore butt and wobbly legs, we ran as best we could up, up to the timing mats which would end our race.

“First Adventure Team!” the race commentator announced! We’d have to wait for the official results to have that confirmed, but in the meantime we knew we had had a good day.

Full of smiles and stories of the day, it was off to the car to drop off our gear before happily refuelling at the local cafe which conveniently positioned near the finish line.

Thank you, Richard, Susan and Team Expedio for such a great day. I honestly wouldn’t , and couldn’t, have done it without you!

Pamela Ens

XTERRA Auckland Trail Run Series Race #1

The popular XTERRA Auckland Trail Run Series kicked off on Sunday with the first event in the Hunua Ranges, south of Auckland. The series has now been running for a number of years and has gained a reputation for its hassle free setup, positive environment, and unforgiving courses.

Four members of Team Expedio attended the event in the weekend. Richard Keene and Emma McCosh ran the  22.1km superlong course, Pamela Ens ran the 17.6km long course, and Reece Billington took the easy option by running the much tamer 12.6km mid course.

After a couple of days of heavy rain during the week conditions were expected to be tough out on the long courses. They did not disappoint! Even though Total Sport have a reputation for putting on tough events, they made sure to highlight the difficulty of this one. The National Downhill and Pukapuka Track were only two of the mountainous walls Richard and Emma had to negotiate as they completed the 22km course. Tough sections of tree roots and steep, slippery uphill sections made things all the more difficult. Regardless, Emma McCosh must have been oblivious to the difficulty of the course as she finished in a time of 2:33, more than ten minutes ahead of the second placed open women. Richard followed suit taking out 3^rd place in the male vet category.

Conditions were much the same for Pamela in the long course option. Thankfully, she too was wearing her trusty Inov-8 Roclite 295’s and managed to collect 2nd place in the master women category.

Reece turned up to the event intending to run in his Nike trainers but purchased a pair of Inov-8 Roclite 295’s last minute. Although he has never run in Inov-8’s, let along trail shoes, he took a gamble and donned the Inov-8’s to run the mid course event. A dash of ignorance and a solid run enabled Reece to take out the victory in the mid course event, without a blister or hot spot in sight!

All in all a great day out was had by Team Expedio and we look forward to the next event in Riverhead. Given Riverhead’s reputation for mud, we hope to see Team Expedio and their Inov-8’s once again near the top of their categories.

Video of the event can be viewed here