Braden Currie and Bob McLachlan to Run Adventure Training Camp in Wanaka

Press Release / 04.10.2016

Top New Zealand multisport and on-road endurance athlete Braden Currie and adventure racing icon Bob McLachlan have pooled their considerable knowledge to offer the ultimate three-day Adventure Training Camp in Wanaka.

Focusing on running, mountain biking and kayaking sessions around the stunning and challenging Southern Lakes terrain, the December 2 to 4 camp is designed to prepare athletes for New Zealand’s toughest off-road, multisport or adventure racing events, including Red Bull Defiance, Coast to Coast and the Godzone Adventure Race.

Currie and McLachlan will run the three main sessions on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, passing on tips gained from their years of experience racing around the world. The three days, based out of the stunning Lake Hawea View lodge, will cover race preparation, training principles, technique and skill development, mental game, nutrition and supplementation. There is a price excluding accommodation that caters for locals and also the option for athletes to attend single days of the camp.

Joining them will be special guest Bermuda’s Flora Duffy, who last month won the final event of the ITU World Triathlon Series to become world champion. She beat 2016 Olympic champion and defending world champion Gwen Jorgensen into second place both in the final event and the overall standings.

Also a two-time XTERRA World Champion, Duffy will talk to the Adventure Training Camp participants about race preparation and the mental aspects of racing that have helped her succeed over her long and successful career.

Red Bull endurance athlete Currie will partner up with Duffy to form a formidable Mixed Elite team in the Red Bull Defiance race on January 21 and 22 and says having her at the Adventure Training Camp is a real coup.

“Flora is such an incredible athlete. She can race as hard on-road, as she can off-road, and has learnt so much over the 20 years since she did her first triathlon aged 8. Anything she has to say is going to be of huge benefit to the people on the camp and I am stoked to have someone of her calibre helping Bob and I out,” Currie says.

Queenstown-based Kate Fluker will also be a special guest and as New Zealand’s top cross-country mountain biker, her skill set will be an asset on mountain bike day (Saturday, December 3).

Currie’s wife Sally is a Sports Naturopath to many of New Zealand’s top endurance athletes (her husband included) and she will offer an insight into optimising health for performance, which includes information around nutrition and supplementation for sport. She will also look at some of the common health issues that are relevant to endurance athletes.

Currie and McLachlan have been friends, training buddies and race partners over the years and decided earlier in 2016 to combine their talents to help athletes progress in the endurance events they are both passionate about.

Braden Currie

Currie’s credentials are well recognised as he continues to rise towards his goal of becoming a world champion. A three-times Coast to Coast winner, he is accustomed to aiming high and pushing the limits of what he is capable of and as a result has claimed a multitude of titles in an eclectic selection of endurance sports whilst also hitting a 95% podium success rate.

In 2015 he became the first Kiwi to win the USA off road triathlon title and he followed that up with a second at the World XTERRA Championships. Earlier this year he became the NZ Olympic and the NZ Long Distance Triathlon champion.

He then jumped off the back of on-road triathlon, to take out the off-road Asia Pacific XTERRA title and last month was an extremely close runner-up in the USA XTERRA Championship.

Currie was not an athlete in his youth, and attributes his ability to perform with success and diversity, to being mentally resilient, as well as seeking out the best resources available to him to achieve progression.

“During the Adventure Training Camp, my focus will be on creating a unique adventure experience and sharing my tips, tricks of the trade that help to ensure an athlete’s best performance,” Currie says.

Bob McLachlan

Bob has spent his lifetime in the outdoors – guiding, exploring and competing at international level in various water sports. In recent years, he has channelled that experience into adventure racing around the globe.

His competitive nature, strength and slightly super-human ability has seen him head-hunted to race with some of New Zealand, Australia and the United States’ top teams overseas. Back home, McLachlan’s Torpedo 7 team has placed on the podium twice in their four attempts at the gruelling 500 – 600km, non-stop Godzone Adventure Race.

Aged 44 earlier this year, McLachlan decided to dedicate some training time to racing solo and stunned some of his younger rivals by finishing second overall in the Coast to Coast’s Longest Day.

McLachlan wants to use his years of knowledge and race experience to help multisport and endurance athletes prepare for races like Red Bull Defiance and the Godzone Adventure Race, or Coast to Coast, where event-specific information and practical tuition can vastly increase athletes’ chances of both success and enjoyment.

McLachlan is launching an adventure training, guiding and trips business – Best Foot Forward NZ – this year and the Adventure Training Camp will be the starting point for him to begin helping people access the incredible outdoors that the Wanaka region has to offer.

“I am really keen to run this training camp alongside Braden, as I have learned many skills and techniques from others in the racing scene, which I want to pass on. I have also made a lot of errors on the way that I would love you to avoid - therefore making your race experience so much more enjoyable. My vision is for you to shortcut past potential mistakes and make your race something you are ready for individually and as a team - resulting in a faster, more enjoyable event and a hunger for more,” McLachlan says.

The full Adventure Training Camp information package can be accessed here: https://www.bradencurrie.com/training-camps/adventure-training-camp.html