2008 XPD ADVENTURE RACE
Australian High Country
For immediate release: November 23, 2008

Winter returns for XPD
Snowfalls, blizzards and rough waters continue to impact on XPD adventurers

On Saturday November 22, race organisers of the XPD Adventure Race were forced postpone the XPD, Australia's only length expedition race, as blizzards and fierce storms swept across the Australian Alps.

Many of the teams were part way through a 210km mountain bike leg, which took teams to heights of above 1600 metres into Australia’s Alpine region. Snowfalls have fallen as low as 1000 metres and are forecast to continue for the next 36 hours. Teams have found that the cold temperatures are so severe that those out on course were unable to stop due to fear of hypothermia.

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"It was so cold out on course that we were really worried what we would do if we got a flat or broke a chain. If we had to stop for any length of time we really risked getting hypothermia" said Heather Logie from Canberra team Tangerine.

South African team, The Bull of Africa were not familiar with some cold weather terms like Blizzard, "We were not sure what blizzard meant when we looked at the forecast earlier in the week, but we found out what it meant on that last mountain bike leg," said Donovan Miller from the Bull of Africa team.

The weather forecast to ease in the next 24 hours and teams will commence racing again at 6:00pm this evening. The race travels from Tintaldra (near Coryong) up through Cabramurra and Kiandra into the northern end of Kosciusko to Lake Eucembene and then down through the park to finish at Thredbo, with teams will riding, hiking and kayaking until the end of their 800km epic journey.

Given the recent snowfall teams will spend most of the next few days travelling through snow until they reach the finish line at Thredbo. It is estimated that the lead teams will finish the rest of the course in approximately 36 hours.

For further information please contact Kimberlee Philip on 0429 427 108