This news just in from Africa — BoldRush bars help climbers reach summit of the highest mountain in Africa! BoldRush powerfood bars were devoured at 7,000 feet, and again near the top of Mount Kilimanjaro at 17,500 feet, making them the highest BoldRush bars to be consumed in the world.

Jenny Trapnell reports, “Your BoldRush bars were a hit!”

After I filed my first article from Corner Brook after the opening of the 1999 Canada Winter Games, the curmudgeonly editor of the Yukon News told me to cut out the rah rah rah stuff. That was a tough gig, writing objective media stories while my insides were crying out to cheer on our Yukon athletes. I was torn, struggling to hold back my enthusiasm, while I kept getting caught up in the excitement of competition and great story.

So with the opening ceremonies for the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, I wanted to go and feel the excitement, hoot and holler, stamp my feet and wave. (I’ve always found there’s something rather therapeutic about yelling in a socially acceptable environment.) And I wondered if anyone would dance.

The event started with great energetic rap numbers from northern artists including Yukon’s own Galen and Daniel Ashley and Tagish’s Fiona Solon rousing the crowds and bringing in the athletes. But overall, it was a little bit more subdued affair than Corner Brook. It was well rehearsed, orchestrated and obviously done for TV. In Newfoundland, the enthusiasm couldn’t be contained. Television was forced to fade rather than conclude when Newfoundland athletes sprung into spontaneous dance that erupted and spread throughout the whole arena.

The athletes entered with their premiers waving flags and cheering them on. They were followed by the three northern premiers. Then, as no surprise to anyone who’s felt like they’ve been working for Piers McDonald for the last three years — Piers, the Prime Minister and a guy called Larry Smith.

Now for those of us who have been around the territory for a few years, we know Larry “Cowboy” Smith – a local legend who took on the sleeker Alaskan dogs of the Iditarod, with his bigger Yukon huskies in the seventies. He inspired us, running a Yukon Quest style dog race, long before the Yukon Quest was born. Back then, Larry’s competitive spirit brought on that bit of emotional resonance that felt like Yukon culture.

But the Larry Smith on stage wasn’t a cowboy – he was Chairman and CEO of the Canada Games Council up there to make a speech. Short speeches are always good, but a few of us held back a chuckle when the dogs backstage started howling as Prime Minister Harper spoke.

Well nothing’s ever perfect, no matter how well rehearsed or how well prepared. And politicians have a lot on their plate- they need to practice their speeches, follow their handlers, and pay attention to their hair. No one knows hair better than Gordon Campbell. It’s a little known fact that Gordon and I have the same hair dresser. And I suspect, that after our Premier sees his hair on television, he’ll be thinking of asking Gordon for a little hair advice.

But political impressions are not what the Games are all about. Jean Chrétien looked out over the assembled athletes in 1999 and said “the future of Canada is in good hands”. Today, Steven Harper saw athletes and spoke on athletic excellence. I saw a bunch of kids who have worked their butts off to get to Whitehorse, having one of the biggest experiences of their lives to date.

I’m so thrilled that our classic northern mythologies are holding — it’s cold, dogs howl and there’s tons of snow.

It’s not often like this, but I suspect, that as the Games wear on, we’ll be exposing a few more Yukon secrets.

It’s easy to get behind. The immediate things get pushed ahead, and past things sometimes just settle in where they were left. Fortunately, my visit to Dawson last weekend had 13-year old Miriam Moore dust off the team photo of the girls we sponsored with BoldRush for the Kluane Chilkoot International Bike Relay last June.

James, I and the kids had all entered the Mayo Midnight Marathon that weekend, but we’d loaded up the young Dawson team with loads of BoldRush for their ride into Alaska. They also wrapped their van in the “Endurized by BoldRush” banner that we’d made up the year before for the River Quest.

It was horrible weather for the 148 mile cycling event, and the Dawson Pinkies persevered through adverse conditions. Her mother had told me that Miriam staved off her chills with protein juice and a blanket. What Miriam remembered, and enthusiastically recalled Saturday night (3 months later) was “I wasn’t even sore the next day”.

There we go! Muscle regeneration and BoldRush. Even works for the young!

Checkpoint four at Canadian customs was draped in a black drizzling fog as runners huddled in parkas or warmed themselves in vehicles waiting for their team number to be announced. Most of the runners found their teammates, but others, ahead of schedule had to keep running or search for their next in line amongst lines of parked cars and campers. Spouses connected and kissed quickly, “Take my coat, the keys are in the pocket” as one collapsed and the other took off into the dark. A handful of hooded skinny people clapped their gloved hands, and cheered on strangers while they waited for their friends well past 2 in the morning. The shuffle of runners and cars would go on for another 12 hours, at least.

In the end, most would dance the next night away, after crossing the US Canada border, into British Columbia then into the Yukon. The usual two-hour drive for fast cars stalled to a slow shuttle amidst the headlamps and the reflective footwear of the runners and their support vehicles.  This is the Klondike International Road Relay.

BoldRush’s newly decaled CRX slid in and out of the traffic searching for the faces and shapes of friends. It was black at the pass. It was dark along the lake; the going was slow and steady. Some have this race down to a science. This was a BoldRush first.

BoldRush sponsored Ahtrii Kit Aagal, a Gwitch’in phrase meaning “running like the wind”. The ten team members ranged in age from 12 to 59. Pauline had cheese and bagels and sandwich meat inside the race support vehicle, but whenever a runner finished and staggered to the van, all they wanted was BoldRush protein juices and bars. James called it a BoldRush feeding frenzy. Their race went on for over 15 hours. The dance lasted longer than most of them.

The other day I needed to put together a quick list of quotes on what different people have said about BoldRush protein juice and bars.

I’d forgotten to ask Pauline Hanburg-Frost about her impressions. Pauline drank BoldRush steadily for her record shattering 49 hour marathon paddle from Whitehorse to Dawson this past June. She was in for a coffee today, plotting out her team’s times for the Klondike Road Relay, double-checking the rationale for their late start time. I asked her what I could say about BoldRush.

Pauline said, “What really struck me was the fact that I never tired. I never felt fatigued. I never hit the wall, or felt like I was about to hit the wall, for the entire race. “

I remembered Pauline’s partner Vicki, had told me at the Carmacks checkpoint, “it was as if I was sipping liquid food energy. It was like it propelled us across Lake Laberge.”

Other quotes of note:
Bill Matiation – winner of the 57 mile Yukon Gold Ultra 2006 – “BoldRush saved my life!”
Brandon Nelson – winner of the Yukon River Quest tandem kayak 2006- “BoldRush rocks !!!”
Dale McKinnon – solo rower Ketchikan to Port Townsend 2004 – “Nectar of the gods !”
Wade Smith – 5th or 6th place solo Canadian Death Race 2006 – “Incredible recovery time.”

And right now, the Mother Merry, the boat Dale was planning to race in the Shipyard School Raid, could be loaded with BoldRush. It’s won eight legs of ten so far, and we’re keeping a close eye on things….

Packed up bottles and bars this week for the Shipyard School Raid, a 7-day staged sailing /rowing race from Gabriola Island, B.C. to Port Townsend, Washington.

Sent a huge bag of BoldRush bars to bridge players in Calgary. Apparently bridge players eat these things all day. (The bars were kindly co-packaged for shipping with Yukon’s Beans North coffee.)

Sent bars to Hills Health Ranch and Spa near 108 mile House British Columbia. They had ordered from sample batches this spring and we were waiting to improve the packaging before we shipped them down. We’re nearly there with final designs for labels!

Sent samples to a man in Toronto with a very big company and lots of beverage industry experience. We have high hopes on this contact.

Sold another handful of bars to a woman we met at the Trade Show in May. She takes the bars on business trips. She works shows on these trips and is on her feet continually and hardly has time to eat.

Gave BoldRush to a woman undergoing chemotherapy.

Sold BoldRush to a woman whose ailing father can only take in liquids.

Gave a bunch for James’s kids so they have lots of bars for their lunches, now that school is starting.

Sold 36 bottles to Lang, who just completed the 100 mile Yukon Gold Ultra on his bike, because he really liked it and BoldRush is not available in Vancouver yet.

Roger and Pauline restocked just before the Atlin 4 Crown Quest, but then again, they always buy lots of BoldRush.

While I was out, James sold a few more drinks and bars to Ross who can’t understand why he’s getting faster.

And we’re looking for the woman who uses the bars on Saturdays for when she goes out garage saleing and loves the bars for that.

I just got off the phone … person wants to take a dozen or so drinks and bars to Nova Scotia for the bride and groom to keep their energy levels up, while the relatives party for days. We have seen this phenomena before, and BoldRush can help.

Dare I say? …. have boldrush will travel.

When Keith was ready to quit and saw the white 4×4 rolling down the gravel path, he was puking in the bushes and missed his chance to flag the driver down for a lift. Keith kept going .

When Bill was ready to quit, a buddy showed up, kept talking and talking, and finally encouraged him on. Bill kept going.

When Nancy had her doubts, she called Shelley to make sure she was on the right path. Nancy kept going.

When Lang lost the trail it was pitch black. He camped down to sleep and left a little red light flashing. When Mary and Frank saw his light in the distance, they went and found him, then brought him back on track. They all kept going and finished the first Yukon summer ultra.

Planning the North American release of a new drink and bar is a daunting task. It’s tough to be a start-up in the food industry. Tougher to bring a new beverage to market.

But the toughest thing would have been to leave the best protein product we’ve ever tasted just sitting in our kitchen cupboard.

We are constantly mindful that it will take preparedness, determination, perseverance, good fortune and good friends (not necessarily in that order) to get BoldRush into southern markets.

And did I forget to say money?

Bill Matiation reached each checkpoint, downed a bottle of BoldRush protein juice and left carrying a bottle in each hand. Halfway through the second leg he bolted past James saying, “This is great stuff!” James realized that Bill had just experienced a BoldRush moment. A well-trained and long-time bush runner, Bill ran the entire 50 mile Yukon Gold Ultra track without a backpack, carrying only one water bottle he filled from creeks and water stations, drinking whatever BoldRush he could down at a checkpoint, then carrying two more bottles out from there. He completed the course in under 12 hours.

James was testing the two bladder system we’d designed for BoldRush. Pauline Frost-Hanberg and Viki Cirkvencic had each used two 3-litre bladders (one water and one BoldRush) in this year’s Yukon River Quest, but we hadn’t tried it in a running event. (Pauline and Vicki blew away the women’s tandem canoe event record in an amazing race – but I’ll leave that story for a later blog.)

James used a 2 litre bladder for water and a 1.5 litre bladder for BoldRush. We bought the roll down style for easier cleaning. The 1.5 takes 5 of our 250 ml. bottles. There were only 3 mid-race checkpoints, and both bladders were empty by the time he reached each one. The Gregory hydration pack he’d bought at Mountain Equipment Co-op worked great and had easily reachable pockets for his stash of BoldRush bars. James finished second after Bill, shortly after dark had set in on the Mount McIntyre ski club trails, in less than his target time of 13 and half hours.

Course organizers confessed to accidentally designing a 57 mile, 50 mile race, but they assured the 100-milers that their course was not longer than the 100 they’d signed up for.

I’m sure I’ll hear more stories on Monday morning, when BoldRush feeds the racers and volunteers breakfast at the BoldRush Power Plant/Bistro. James will be cooking up a storm again, appreciating his accelerated recovery – all that improved muscle glycogen synthesis and muscle protein synthesis – he designed into his BoldRush protein juices and bars.

How’d you like to run a 125 km on potato chips, cliff bars and gatorade? That’s exactly what Wade Smith, James’ brother did two weeks ago at the Canadian Death Race in Grande Cache. He hadn’t been training all year with BoldRush so he didn’t switch products before the race. His choice was absolutely understandable, but oh how I felt for his poor stomach!

He’d been training about 15 hours a week. He knew the trail, having been part of a Death Race team for two years. Last year he soloed and placed ninth; this year he intended to beat that. After a full sixteen hours and 17,000 feet in elevation changes, he did, probably placing fifth (the final results are still not posted on canadiandeathrace.com). Boy it was a tough event to watch, and of course, even tougher to run and finish.

The following morning, watching Wade tenderly trying to navigate a simple step wincing in pain, I knew he needed BoldRush. Carbohydrate and protein supplements post exercise have been shown to speed hydration, reduce muscle damage and limit the suppression of the immune system that can occur following this type of event. We loaded Wade up with tons of BoldRush for his trip home across BC.

Wade called tonight. He told James that he felt way worse after this year’s race than last. But he couldn’t believe how fast his recovery time was. Last year it took over a week, and he didn’t want to do anything for months. “This year,” he said, “it’s incredible!” Already now he’s planning another event. We haven’t even told him that carbohydrate and protein supplements post exercise also have been shown to improve performance in a subsequent event.

He wants more BoldRush shipped down. I think we’ve gained another convert.

So who are Jenny and Su? They were there at the beginning -well not the real beginning – but close to the beginning.

Two days before the start of the 2005 Yukon River Quest, Su Green, Jenny Trapnell and I cooked up two 24 litre batches of BoldRush over a propane turkey basting stand in the middle of the kitchen floor taking instructions from James on his cell phone (who was changing planes in the Vancouver airport) and filled the 50 or so bottles they took with them down the Yukon River. Jenny and Su became the first team we sponsored in the River Quest, the world’s longest annual canoe and kayak event of 740 km (460 miles) between Whitehorse and Dawson City, Yukon.

As first-year paddlers they placed second in the women’s tandem canoe finishing their race in 59 hours. The full impact of their accomplishment did not really sink in until I worked the Carmacks check-point this year and witnessed the brutal effects of total exhaustion on almost all the Quest participants, including the British navy teams. The compulsory 7 hour stop is about halfway through the race for most teams. Often, up to 30% of racers scratch.

That my good friends finished, finished uninjured, and finished feeling no worse than after their first four hours of training is a testament to commitment, training, and perseverance.

And of course, to the endurizing quality of BoldRush. Their feedback kept James and I going.