Saab Salomon Gear up for the 1st International X-adventure

Rob / 26.05.2002

The new elite UK team sponsored by Salomon and Saab, the partners behind the international X-adventure Raid series, have been continuing their preparation for the 6 races they will compete in this year.

Some of the squad recently gathered in North Wales, where team coaches Tim Lloyd and Steve Barnard are based. They met up with Jerome Decisier of Salomon who talked to the team about the spirit of competition, and in passing mentioned the strict anti-drugs testing being introduced. (An interesting step forward for AR - which we’ll tell you more about another time.)

The weekend wasn’t all intensive training but at the Sunday workout at Tryweryn, the National White Water Centre, they gained a lot of skills and confidence. Ben Bardsley, Nicola Davies, Helen Jackson and Steve Birkinshaw impressed the instructor enormously. “They are like sponges, you tell them something then they do it!” He obviously wasn’t used to the technical capabilities and strength top adventure racers have. Mind you it didn’t all start so well, using the 3 man inflatable canoe which they will use in the race they capsized before starting the first run! They enjoyed spending more time on the inline skates too, not without taking a few tumbles though!

At this stage the squad is still starting to gel, though many of them have raced together before, particularly as Jim Davies is in the team too - so the core of Team Parrot are in the squad. The first race is going to be their toughest in many ways as it’s the winter X-adventure in Sweden and Norway over the weekend of June 7-9th. Skiing and snowshoeing are not the teams strengths! But at least Steve Birkinshaw has been to the area before (for a mountain marathon – which he won with Mark Seddon.) The others in the team for the weekend are Ben Bardsley, Adam Haynes and Helen Jackson.

Steve Barnard and Tim Lloyd will both be there in support, though Tim doesn’t have expectations which are too high. “I think this race will be the worst one for us because of the snow activities, especially the skiing which is very technical and will put us at a big disadvantage against the Scandinavians. Still, we will look to the running/biking/canoeing legs to put in some top performances.”

You’ll be able to find out how they get on here on SleepMonsters.com of course as we’ll be working closely with the team, and they will have their own site very soon. Following our top racers competing in a well funded team against the world’s best is a treat not to be missed – so join us and follow their progress through the summer.