Team OrionHealth Adventure

We’re in southern China settling in ahead of the Wulong Mountain Quest. This is one of the most popular events on the international calendar, a four day stage race in the mountainous Wulong region. The race kicks off with a prologue, an hour or so racing on the streets of Wulong, then three full days of mountainbiking, running, kayaking and rafting, plus a bit of caving and abseiling in the karst landscape the area is famous for.

After Wulong we head further south to Zun Yi for two day race, but this one is a bit of a mystery and we know very little about it. The compulsory gear list does include rollerblades so that should add a little humour to the racing. 

The Wulong Mountain Quest has always been well supported by New Zealanders and there are a few of us floating around. Orion is sporting an all kiwi line up, while Martin Flinta of Sweden has recruited Richard and Elina Ussher and Nathan Faavae for Team Thule.  Jacob Roberts and Marcel Hagener have joined a French team but are racing under the banner of a Chinese sponsor, Toread, and Louise Mark is here with a team from Hong Kong.

The trip to Wulong was pretty painless, we found our way here with the help of (or in spite of) some very useful signs. 

Where exactly? 

Others included permanent signs on the motorway warning us of foul weather, and some simply stating ‘rear end collision,’ while the odd road sign congratulated drivers for their hard work .

We’ve got a couple of days before racing begins, but the mind games have begun already. Nathan has gained a significant psychological advantage for the team by establishing himself as the leading ping pong player in the hotel.

We’ll post more updates once racing gets underway. Watch this space!

Editor's Note:    Nathan Peterson has joined the team for these races.  He is a Mainlander like Fleur, was 3rd in XPD Cairns with Team Merrell and has competed at Wulong before

 Competed in the Open24 adventure race in the weekend with Simon Enderby who Fi raced with in the Open12 about a month ago.

 Great course which took us from the North west coast of Wales over plenty of hills to the Welsh town of Betws-y-coed.  Had a good race although not quite good enough to beat Tom Gibbs and John Houlihan who took a well deserved win.

Here's a couple of pics from the race.

Cheers,

Stu 

Great ride last weekend. Fi and I rode the Trans Wales MTB route from Knighton to the coast.  Two days of riding through some fairly remote Wales countryside - and plenty of hills!  Fortunately the weather gods were smiling on us and we were'nt subjected to the typical wet Welsh weather. Just enough of a shower to test out the New Berghaus Paldor Peak jacket.  Great piece of kit.

Here's a few photos from the ride. 

Latest news from Brent is that he is back in hospital on a drip.  The infection was not responding to the antibiotics originally provided.  He is still hopeful of catching the plane home with the rest of the team early Sunday morning.

Anyway, the much anticipated post race relax on the beach is not happening for him.

I the frustrating thing is that at the time we withdrew we were 95% of the way there, and in the lead, about 1 hour up on Blackheart who spent a bit longer in a dodgy part of the map than we did.

Anyway what has happened if one of my numerous leach bites suddenly became hugely infected and swollen, this in itself probably wouldn't have stopped me, but it was in a location near my Achilles tendon and the swelling completely immobilised the ankle joint.

We bunked down for a few hours in the leach infected rain forest hoping that the swelling would reduce enough to carry on.

 Unfortunately by morning if anything it was worse and a decision was made that we needed to get some treatment ASAP.

So after a visit t the Cairns Hospital I am now on a concoction of antibiotics that will hopefully do the job of clearing up the infection.

This is not a one off case, as it seems that half the teams I have spoken to have at least one person with a bad infection. Fleur is also been on antibiotics, as well as Shane from Alpine Epic.

Here are some showing the extent of the swelling.