Asia Pacific Adventure Win in Thailand

Helen Sin (APA staff) / 16.03.2010

Asia Pacific Adventure’s Athlete team continued it's dominance of Asia’s adventure racing scene with a convincing victory in Thailand’s biggest adventure race, River Kwai Trophy.

The event, in its 5th year, featured a historic start at the infamous Bridge Over River Kwai, followed by several stages of mountain biking, jungle scrambling, trail running, river kayaking, and swimming. Over 130 teams of two lined up to tackle the new Kanchanaburi province course.

Team Asia Pacific Adventure, made up of THE NORTH FACE sponsored athletes Piers Touzel and Ryan S. Blair, were in solid form from the start taking the lead 20 minutes into the race at the end of the first run & river crossing. They never looked back and continued to add to their lead finishing in 4:08, fifteen minutes ahead of 2nd place Chiru Racing Endurance Bikes and twenty minutes up on 3rd place and the top local Thai team, Outdoor Unlimited.

Champion Ryan S. Blair commented, “I am really stoked to win this race as I had some bad luck in past years at this event with team injuries. The key for us today was consistency in all disciplines and also very smooth teamwork.”

Teammate Piers who had traveled from freezing temperatures in Beijing the day earlier added, “One of the bigger challenges in this race was how to mange the heat and your related plan for hydration and nutrition. We saw many teams having a melt down out there, and a few times we were also on the edge!”

Asia Pacific Adventure’s Athlete team consists of 8 endurance sport champions based in Mainland China, Taiwan, Philippines and Hong Kong. The team members strive to live-out their passion for adventure, travel and international competition, while helping to promote the value and protection of Asia’s spectacular outdoor areas. Team sponsors include: THE NORTH FACE, Champion System, Specialized Bikes, Asia Pacific Adventure, High Performance Sports Limited, Feelfree Kayaks and Paradigm.