UK Events

Thames Path Ultra
Pennine 100
Coast Challenge
Tring 2 Town
Night Day Marathon

Results

World Events

Raw Africa
Raw Britain
Raw Scandinavia
Raw Arctic

AmbitionStore
Ambition Events

Box Genesis will be providing weekly training tips on ambitionlife in the "Training Advice" section. Box Genesis combine the latest in sports science information and technology with a time efficient method of delivering an exceptional service to implement and manage effective exercise programmes.

This week's article: Hydration
Adequate hydration whilst exercising is critical not only for performance but is a major reason why some training sessions can feel harder than others. Performance begins to become impaired at only 2% dehydration (Armstrong et al, 1995). However your thirst regulators are not sensitive enough to determine you are dehydrated until you are closer to 5% dehydrated. This is the reason you should drink frequently during exercise as by the time you feel thirsty it may already be too late to re-hydrate yourself. At 5% dehydration you performance may have dropped by 30%

read more....... [link]

Check out some of the photos from Namibia last week. From grassy plains to beautiful red sand dunes, the race will take competitors through some of the most spectacular areas which Africa has to offer.

[link]

Each stage will start at 5am every morning in order to be out of the heat before mid-day. Competitors will be treated to magnificent sunrises and game is plentiful throughout the course.

Should you have any questions, drop me a line via the Forum.

Last night saw some more light snow and as of today the Kungsleden officially closes for the winter. For the last month, only the emergency cabins have been open for operation.

Today took me down to Nikkaluokta, where CP1 will be stationed. If remote is what you are after, then this is definitely for you as there is not much up this side of the world at all ,except you and the great outdoors. I was fortunate enough to run past a couple of small herds of reindeer, which was a nice change as opposed to seeing endless herds of springbok. By the time I reached Nikkaluokta it was already getting dark (15:00) and there was thick fog hanging around the area. The temperature here had dropped to -7 degrees Celsius - I am sure Africans were never supposed to travel so far north, man I hate the cold.

Fortunately for you competitors, most of the snow will not be around during the race except for on the mountain peaks. You can expect sunny weather and mild temperatures. It could be a little muddy in places due to the melting snow but the landscape is going to look spectacular during summer. I should have some photos and footage posted over the weekend.

For those who are interested - I was in Namibia last week, meeting our partners and working on the route. It is another world - but that's another story so watch this space for footage/pics and info from the RAW Africa recce last week.

AE Terry

It's Absolutely stunning up this side of the world.

I started out from Abisko this morning around 10am, the sun was shining keeping the temprature to a modest 4 degrees celsius until about 13:00 when it dropped to minus 6 before the end of the days run. Darkness settled in at around 16:00 so time was limited.

The Swedish Lapland is truly amazing. The Kungsleden (Kings Trail) is quite well marked so navigation is not really going to be too much of an issue for the competitors. More time to enjoy the beauty of the countryside. The route was generally flat without too many steep ascents as most of the first leg ran through valleys surronded my mountains covered in snow. In fact at the moment everything is covered in ice and snow include most of the lakes and rivers. I had a few lucky escapes after slipping numerous times on the icy paths and just as I thought I was going to get away with it - wham - man down. I slipped and landed hard on my right leg - I thought I broke it at first as the pain was unbearable and I pondered about how to get home as I was still 6KM from camp. A 10 minute rest and a red bull seemed to sort things out and no damage done so I was able to carry on slowly through the cold until reaching the log cabin. It was so cold that the water in my octupus bladder had frozen.

Most of the area for the route is only accesable on foot during the summer and snow mobile when the snow is deep enough in winter. For RAW Scandinavia there will be only 1 Checkpoint around the halfway mark as this is the only other access point to the route. This will be fine as we will have 2 Hikers who are medically trained to act as sweepers on the route and if necessary they will be able to radio an evac helicopter. Pure and fresh water is everywhere on the route so no extra CPs needed to supply water.

I have opened up a forum thread for those of you who would like more detail on the race - feel free to drop me a question.

Terry Southam