Xterra is the heartbeat of Off-Road Triathlon, and on May fifteenth, Living Harvest Foods showed up in New Jersey at the tenth annual “King of the Hill” Xterra triathlon to celebrate May’s “National Physical Fitness and Sports Nutrition Month”. Living Harvest’s own Doreen Gubernat-Hogan made sure that all of the race participants were given samples of tempt High Protein Powder to take with them in their race bags. Doreen also had nice cold smoothies for everyone after they finished the race and had recovered their breath. Although the weather was a little cool, foggy and wet; everyone had a really great time. Here is what happened.
Doreen and I arrived at Round Valley State Park in New Jersey a couple of hours before the race to find that many racers had already arrived. There seemed to be a buzz in the air. The air was thick and wet as we could see the buoy markers for the swim race stretch out into the mist. The racers were shuffling around as they were registering and taking in the conditions that would be defining their upcoming event.
As the registrations were filling, each racer was picking up their swag offered from GU, Balance Bar, Road ID, and other offerings right before they were met by Doreen who handed them a sample packet of Tempt High Protein Powder attached with a coupon for some hemp milk and literature about the wonderful values of nutrition born from hemp. While most racers said, “thank you” and then stared blankly at the sample, others just stared blankly at the samples. Clearly, the fact that racers cared very little about a new revolutionary protein powder just before the race was about to begin became quite clear.
Xterra is a venue that thrives and prides itself on tough courses; the wet and cool conditions were a great stage for this event. This was going to be muddy, slick, and full of challenges. The race started with a 100+ dash down the sand beach to the plunge start into the lake for a half mile swim and then took the racers to tackle New Jersey’s toughest mountain bike trail, “Mushatonk Trail”. After completing that portion of the race, it was the racer’s privilege to run up and over, and over again, the infamous “Toboggan Hill”. These people know how to celebrate “National Physical Fitness Month”
An hour and half later, most elite athletes are busting through the finish line. The racers were muddy, beat, and surprisingly, happy. After they had a chance to hydrate and breathe and hydrate and breathe again, the finishers were offered complimentary food, like Gatorade, fruit and peanut butter on bagels. Everyone was much looser now. They were roaming around offering congratulations to anyone and everyone. The comradeship among this group was very refreshing.
Bam! Doreen’s smoothies made with hemp milk, Tempt high protein powder, strawberries and bananas were a hit. The racers were asking about the hemp powder samples and the milk, and the smoothies. As they drank their smoothie they were very appreciative and liked the way that it tasted; except for those that hung around for seconds and thirds…they loved the way that it tasted! Some racers were staying away for some reason, until it was revealed that they just did not “do dairy”. Upon hearing that there was no dairy in hemp milk or these smoothies, they came right over… and over again.
While the trophies and awards were being given out, the race director threw in some fun challenges like, the push-up contest, the hand-stand contest, the race to be first in the water contest, etc… Living Harvest was a great participant by giving out some of its organic cotton t-shirts and shopping bags made from organic hemp to the winners, participants, and to the interested. What a fun time for Xterra and Living Harvest.
