2008 AR World Champions

Updates keep coming through on a tactical and tough race

lynne.oxenham@nzblood.co.nz (LynneO) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:32:38 +0000

Orionhealth.com (on right) and Nike/Beaver Creek matching one another pace for pace ...

Photo courtesy of www.ARWC2009.com

Kiwi supporters following the race on the ground in Portugal continue to send through regular updates on the teams progress as they battle through a long, hilly and challenging course at the World Championships in Portugal.

Orionhealth.com are mixing it up with the race leaders which include arch rivals Nike/Beaver Creek.

As expected pre-race tactical decision making is beginning to show the importance it will play in this race as teams start to realise they may not be able to collect every checkpoint/bonus on the course and still make key race cut-offs.

Visit the Blog page for updates from Karyn and Annie

Sleepmonsters have also got two new reports on the race up ...

http://sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6194

http://sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6195

Follow the team by Blog

lynne.oxenham@nzblood.co.nz (LynneO) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:09:15 +0000

Well the team's defence of their World Championship title is under way just outside Lisbon, Portugal, with the race prologue having been completed. The team are resting now for a restart of the remainder of the 900+ km course at 8am local time (9pm in NZ).

Brent's dad Roy and Karyn Burns (whose partner Neil is racing in NZ team Nga Rakau) are crewing for Orionhealth.com for what looks likely to be an epic race. Karyn is going to send back reports as often as she can for posting on the team's Blog page so keep an eye on that for "on the ground up to date" accurate information about how the team is doing as the race progresses. The first messages from Karyn will be up there shortly.

The official race website is http://www.arwc2009.com/en/ with race reports being posted on the usual other sites: http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?race_id=7511 and http://www.sportzhub.com/site/

Annie (Mark from Nga Rakau's partner) is also supporting out on the course and if she's able to get enough internet access will no doubt be keeping an excellent blog on the race updated: http://www.kiwixpdportugal.blogspot.com/

You can leave messages for the team on the race website which are apparently going to be delivered to them - so feel free to send them lots of "go fast" messages!

CLOSE UP with Orionhealth.com

lynne.oxenham@nzblood.co.nz (LynneO) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:56:11 +0000

Although they're busy on the other side of the world in Portugal preparing for the start of the 2009 Adventure Racing World Championships on Sunday Wayne and Anna will be on New Zealand television show CLOSE UP tonight (TV1, from 7pm 6 November) - talking about adventure racing past, present and future.

We gave the reporters lots of past race footage so hopefully there'll be plenty of interesting adventure racing visuals to go with the interviews.

If you miss seeing the show live you can access it on-line at www.tvnz.co.nz/closeup

Intrepid AR51 map board review

stuartlynch_nz@hotmail.com (Stuart Lynch) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:58:29 +0000

I've written a review on the map board that we use for all our on bike navigation. You can find it and lots of other good articles on the area51 website here.

Reports up

stuartlynch_nz@hotmail.com (Stuart Lynch) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:37:06 +0000

In the reports section theres a full report on our win at Primal Quest, and on the blog theres a brief report on the desert race in China that I have just returned from. Enjoy.

5th in Wulong

wayne.oxenham@orionhealth.com (Wayne Oxenham) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:39:05 +0000

We placed 5th at the Wulong Mountain Quest, after 4 very fast and hard days of racing. We're satisfied with 5th given the level of the competition and the lack of specific speed training that we've done. We raced well as a team and really enjoyed a very well organised race. The other Kiwi's at the race did really well and it was awesome spending time with them all and our other international adventure racing friends.

Next up for us is Porrtugal in November, which is the Adventure Racing World Champs. We need to improve our rollerblading and learn a lot more about racing in Portugal before we head over.

Finally, sorry for the lack of updates on our website from China, for some reason it seemed the website was blocked from within China ... probably because of all the political content

A Big Thanks!!!

wayne.oxenham@orionhealth.com (Wayne Oxenham) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:15:44 +0000

After a couple of good nights sleep I'm starting to feel a little more normal again, and can reflect on an awesome race.

It was tough, on our bodies minds and towards the end our supporters. Oops, sorry about that. We didn't want to deviate from the course prescribed by the maps (and shown as a brown line to all of you via tracking), and we just couldn't find the trails that we needed to string together to match that line. In the end we waited for daylight and set about 'knocking the bugger off'.

I've got a few sore bits, mainly blisters and bruises. I've lost a heap of weight due to a case of diarrhoea for days 2 and 3 where I had to avoid eating in order to avoid shitting. So I lasted on a few brave moments where I gobbled a jelly snake or glucose tablet. My wonderful team looked after me well, they are marvellous.

We slept 2, 3, 3, 2, 1 and 45mins for each of the days of the race, which is pushing the boundaries, but I guess that's what we do.

For me the most memorable moments of the race don't come from the course, but from the supporters. We had people all over South Dakota cheering us on from their pickups as they drove by, from their front lawns as we passed their houses, from out on the trails, from wherever we met them. On the final ride around Rapid City we rode up a steep winding hill and there were chalk drawings on the pavement spelling 'Come on Orion' and even a picture of our star logo. It was fantastic.

Looking at comments on our website, the PQ website and Sleepmonsters, we've had a lot of support from people all over the world. We all feel very lucky.

I wish we could thank you all individually, but here's a BIG THANKS to you all, your support will always be cherished.

Check out the Blog for messages from the rest of the team.

Orion finish PQ!

f.mcbryde@hotmail.com (Fiona McBryde) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:27:11 +0000

A very happy Orion are the first to cross the finish line at Primal Quest 2009!

See our team blog for more info, discussion and messages to the team!

Race Blogs - keep up to date with the latest news!

wayne.oxenham@orionhealth.com (WayneO) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:14:50 +0000

Lynne (Wayne's wife) and Roy (Brent's Dad) are on the ground here in South Dakota and will be following us (as much as possible) while we're out racing. With some technical help from Fiona (Stuart's partner) who is based in the UK we're hoping that you'll be able to keep up with what's happening to us out on the race course as things unfold.

There are already a few pre-race reports loaded up so check out the Blog section of the website and get ready to race with us!

Primal Quest ... getting there

wayne.oxenham@orionhealth.com (Wayne Oxenham) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:27:15 +0000

We finally arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota, despite some travel demons along the way ... check out the full story in our blog