XPD – Full in 12 Hours

06.11.2006

Opening at 9am on 5th November, entries to the 3rd Edition of XPD came flooding in, taking the organisers by surprise. A maximum of 60 team slots was available and over 30 of these had been taken in the first hour. After that it was just a countdown to the inevitable sell out.

Race Director Craig Bycroft said “We were confident of a good number of entries, but selling out within 12 hours was a complete shock”. While teams from Australia made an expected strong showing, so too did international teams making up over a quarter of the field. There are entries from the Middle East, USA, Mexico, UK, Canada, Belgium and several from New Zealand.

There are a lot of TBA’s on the team list so it seems prospective teams made the right call to get a team entry in early and confirm personnel later. Defending champions AROC Mountain Designs are entry No.1 and No.2 are the strong Kiwi challengers OrionHealth.com 1. (Not sure that is that is there top team though – that might be OrionHealth.com A!)

The girlsontop.co.nz team look like they will be a fun entry too. Their current line up is; Gloria Stits, Gloria Sarse, Eva Upanova and Ima Drinker!

A delighted Bycroft said “The support for XPD shows that the Southern Hemisphere is now a force to be reckoned with”. Teams who missed out can put their name down on a wait list and if any slots become available the organisers will contact them.

The edition of XPD held in February in Tasmania had the second largest number of teams to an expedition race this year topped only by the Primal Quest. With a sell out of 60 teams it is looking to again be one of the biggest expedition races on the planet next year.