Posted: February 10, 2004

Adventure Racing: Team Saab Salomon beat the extremes to win the Winter XX Adventure Race

Team Saab Salomon have taken the honours at the North Face Winter XX, which lived up to its challenging reputation complete with snowy conditions this weekend in the Lake District.

The first event of the British Adventure Racing Championships, The North Face Winter XX, is one of six endurance races that include mountain biking, running, kayaking and climbing. This weekend 24 teams of four took part, which included world-class teams such as the French Team Spie, and the 2003 British Adventure Racing Championship winners, Team Saab Salomon.

The weekend threw up just about every weather condition known to man and with 13 hours of the event held during the unforgiving and bitterly cold night of the Cumbrian lakes and hills.

The teams battled through rain, snow, hail and a bitterly cold northerly wind to cover a route that included 15km canoeing, 75km mountain biking, 47km on foot, a rope climb, abseil, zip line, traverse, flooded cave walk and tree top rope course. Team Saab Salomon, consisting of Tom Gibbs, Helen Jackson, Morgan Donnelly and Steve Birkinshaw, emerged victorious as the only team to pick up no time penalties and coming home in 21 hours 08 minutes and 35 seconds. Second spot went to team HighFive/Sealskinz, over an hour behind the leaders and the third team home was The North Face.

Saab Salomon team member Helen Jackson comments: "The worst part of the event was that the rain and snow soaked us to the bone and with the biting wind it was a struggle to keep warm, a dry pair of gloves could have been the difference between finishing or not… In the end we had an incident free race and it all went really well which is down to a great support team who kept us warm and dry when we stopped."

ACE Races and The North Face Winter XX Race Director Phil Humphreys comments: "The North Face Winter XX is designed to be a tough test and the conditions really lived up to that. The teams rose to the challenge showing their spirit and resolved to battle through the elements when times were hard."

He continues: "The course took in some amazing sights and experiences of the area with a sense of true 'adventure' running through the event. The competitors will remember this experience for a long time to come."

British Adventure Racing Championship Director Brian Elliott comments: "What a start to the Championships, it was a true spectacle and a credit to Phil and ACE Races."

Further information, news and developments regarding the 2004 British Adventure Racing Championships is available at www.britchamps.com /i> and www.sleepmonsters.co.

For more information on The North Face Winter XX or other ACE Races visit www.aceraces.com.

Results: The North Face Winter XX 

Rank	Team Name	Agg. Time	BARC Points

1	Team Saab Salomon	21:08:35	20

2	Highfive/Sealskinz	22:00:23	15

3	The North Face	22:58:19	10

4	Spie - The North Face	24:32:24	8

5	Team Orange	25:20:52	7

6	Aberdeen Asset Management	25:31:55	6

7	Team Debut	27:19:25	5

8	The Team of Extraordinary Gentlemen	27:51:54	4

9	Team Anabasis	28:08:41	3

10	Team Traverse	31:12:16	2