Tecnu’s Expedition Africa Race Report

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Drakensburg, the origins of the name alone brings to mind a treacherous, dangerous, and hostile environment. In Zulu the area is known as the “Barrier of Spears” and in Afrikaans the translation is “Dragon Mountains”. The landscape is vast and was formed from the vicious lava eruptions over 200 million years ago that created the second highest waterfall in the world and the second highest mountains and plateaus in Africa. While beautiful and picturesque, the race directors Heidi and Stephen brought over 31 teams here because they knew that this would be a foreboding area that would take the most seasoned adventure racing teams and best navigators in the world to their limits. Our team was comprised of some of… Read More →

Untamed New England Announces 2014 Dates and Location

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North America’s Premiere Adventure Race Returns to Maine Wilderness May 14, 2013 | Dover, NH After extensive course evaluations and careful consideration, Untamed Adventure Racing has selected Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness region to host the next edition of their expedition adventure race on June 17-22, 2014. Untamed Adventure will partner with the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), which owns and manages over 66,000 acres of conservation and recreation land and more than 80 miles of trails in the region, to make the 2014 race an unforgettable challenge in a stunning setting. “After past editions of Untamed New England, racers may find it hard to believe, but our 2014 race course will be our most remote ever,” stated Grant Killian, race director for… Read More →

Expedition Africa – The Challenge of the Drakensberg

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Expedition Africa, staged by Kinetic Adventure, attracted one of the strongest entries in this year’s AR World Series, with 31 International and South African teams taking part, including 11 teams in the top 50 of the AR World Rankings and two in the top 10. They all travelled to the Northern Drakensberg mountains in Kwazulu-Natal province and were based together for the start/finish of the 500km race at the Orion Mount-aux-Source Resort. This not only offered a comfortable base and race HQ, it gave the teams a good look at the impressive, and intimidating wall of peaks and cliffs that form the Drakensberg escarpment. (The Zulu name for the range is Ukhahlamba, meaning ‘Barrier of Spears’.) The course, set by… Read More →

Packing (and Organizing) for an expedition race halfway around the world

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Team Tecnu left for Africa on Monday. We caught up with Kyle Peter over the weekend and he discussed his packing for Expedition Africa. Here is his step-by-step preparation before departure: • Charging Light and Motion batteries. We will also ‘top’ these off a couple of days prior to the starting gun. Team Tecnu will have over 40 batteries to keep us running our Stella 300s and Seca 800s on high without any concern for running out of juice on night 4! • Food packed up into sixteen 6-hour bags (250 cals/hour = 1500 cals/bag). Each bag includes some ginger candy, a powder drink mix (mostly Endurox R4), a couple 2nd Surge Accel Gels, and a good mix of junk… Read More →

Interview with Untamed New England’s Grant Killian on 2014 Race

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We jumped at the chance to pick the brain of the Untamed New England adventure race ring leader, Grant Killian. After hearing several rumors, we wanted to learn anything and everything about plans for the next expedition race. To say we came away satisfied and excited is an understatement. What’s the latest with the Untamed New England adventure race? As you may know, we’re ramping up for shorter 24-hour and 6-hour adventure races to run the weekend of June 22nd in Maine. The host location is the Sugarloaf Resort. It’s going to be a spectacular showcase for the Western Maine mountains and our race courses will include elements edited out of our 2012 expedition race course due to time; if… Read More →

Q&A with Tecnu Adventure Racing Team on their Season Ahead

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The ARWS is already well underway and Team Tecnu is about to join the fray in South Africa for the Expedition Africa Adventure Race next month. We caught up with the team for a little Q&A on what they have been doing to prepare for the season ahead as well as any race strategy they were keen to share. Who are the team players for this season? Kyle Peter “KP” • Age-28 • Biggest assets to the team- Organization/Cracking the whip/Driving the team Bob Miller ” Nav God” • Age-38 • Biggest assets to the team- Navigation Karen Lundgren • Age-40’s • Biggest assets to the team- Experience Garret Bean • Age-30 • Biggest assets to the team-Sherpa/ Towing /… Read More →