Adelaide, Australia, 24th January 2010 – First Endurance rider Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) secured his second overall win of the Santos Tour Down Under on Sunday becoming one of only two riders who have won the event more than once. Greipel won the race on his first attempt in 2008, crashed out in the leaders jersey in 2009 and came back in 2010 to win again, claiming 9 stage wins in Adelaide over the three years.

Greipel’s teammates controlled the fast and furious 90 minute circuit race in downtown Adelaide to ensure overall victory. “I’m really happy to win again here and to take the ProTour lead,” said Greipel. “Of course I would have liked to have won the stage today because the team worked really hard but I am happy with the overall win. It has been a great week. I really like coming here to race. It’s a nice way to start the season, especially when you win.”

Team Director Allan Peiper was equally pleased with the week of racing. “It was a fantastic combination of effort and work by everyone in the team who came here,” he said. “The whole team arrived two weeks before to get some solid training in for the race and Andre left his 15 day old baby to make sure he was ready. It all paid off with 3 stage wins and the GC. The boys were rock solid and worked really hard the whole week. It was fantastic racing and they were right on top of every critical moment to protect the race lead. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season.”

The team will receive the entire First Endurance product line and will continue to work closely with First Endurance on new product development.

Team Columbia-High Road is the number one ranked professional cycling team in the world. They won more races in 2008 than any other team, with 29 different riders winning at least one race – a stunning demonstration of true teamwork that is a unique attainment in pro cycling. The men’s team won 85 races including six stages in the Tour de France, four stages of the Giro d’Italia and multiple overall tour wins. Team Columbia Women won 69 races and the overall World Cup Series.

ABOUT FIRST ENDURANCE

First Endurance was started by two racing fanatics (a cyclist and a triathlete) with a healthy obsession for sports nutrition. The idea was simple. We wanted to give endurance athletes access to formulas that are developed for one specific reason-to maximize endurance performance. At First Endurance, our approach is different. Because of our core values and uncompromising standards, we develop the best products available. We are committed to using only the highest-quality ingredients. We employ the latest technological advancements and demand the finest packaging materials to protect the product from the elements (moisture, oxygen and UV degradation). Only when we are 100% satisfied that these standards are met, do we offer the products to you.

First Endurance triathlete Jordan Rapp shares his strategy, race preparation, race re-cap and race nutrition following his record setting 2009 Ironman Arizona win. This 10 minute video is a must see for anyone racing Ironman.

Just thought I’d give a few words of praise for Optygen…

I am on the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team and since starting to use Optygen in May, I have increased the volume and intensity of my training significantly. I have found that I have been able to recover much quicker from long runs and quality workouts.

I have to admit that I was a little surprised initially and had planned to build more recovery into my training, but then found that I didn’t need it as much while using Optygen.

In the past, I have struggled with illness from my body not being able fully recover from my training, but I firmly believe that while using Optygen, I have been able to stay much healthier, run more and recover quicker.

I thrilled that I have had my best summer of racing so far with a win at the Finger Lakes 50miler and a second place finish at Haliburton 100mile (I was 50mins faster than last year, and beat the previous course record). Thanks!

Derrick Spafford

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I just completed Ironman Louisville (my first ironman) and was able to race well enough to get an Ironman World Championship qualifying slot. I was 37th out of approximately 2500 athletes (including pros and amateurs). Excluding the pros I was 15th overall out of the 2388 amateur athletes.

I now have 5 1/2 weeks until Kona (Ironman World Championships). That does not leave me a lot of time to make all the arrangements.

I have been using MultiV, OptygenHP, Ultragen, and Pre-race regularly. Secondly, I am hoping that First Endurance might be able to help me with some of my expenses for the Kona trip. Any assistance that can be offered would be greatly appreciated as every little bit helps. Please let me know if First Endurance can offer any assistance.

Charles Kemeny
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FYI – 5 wins at USRowing Masters Nationals… had eight 1K races over 3 days, 95dg heat.  Lots of EFS & PreRace for last 2 races, which were 40min apart.  Felt great during final sprints

Greg

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From Olympian Sarah Haskins.  Here is the nutrition I prefer to use going into my Olympic Distance and ITU races.
½ of EFS bar 90 min before race start
1 liquid shot 10 min prior to race start
24 oz of EFS (prototype Grape flavor)
1 liquid shot towards the end of the bike

i will continue testing out new EFS prototypes which I used for the race and worked well.
As far as taste:  Lemon is my favorite, ( 2)Grape,  (3) Fruit Punch, and Nate and I both agree that we don’t really like the taste of orange—  I like to drink the new lemon with just 1/2 a scoop when traveling or just hanging out before a race.   I also like the “light” taste of grape.

Sarah Haskins

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Take this for what it’s worth.  I do consider it an endorsement, want nothing for it other than to let you know about a success achieved with your product.

My brother and I completed the crossing of Britain on the 15th of August in 8 days, 10 hours.  It was 902 miles and, for my category (arm-powered), a new record by more than 8 days and 12 hours.  My brother rode along on his hybrid every mile and we had an ambulance, team van, and team of 6 in support.  We are trying to get the WR part of it certified with the British Road Records Association and possibly Guinness (either the book or the beer…don’t care).  It was a truly grueling event, the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted or completed and, compared to the average lunatic running around out there, I’ve done a lot of difficult things (not the least of which from my www.marathonsforhope.org campaign).  We essentially averaged 2:40 for more than 34 marathons in that pe! riod.  Some of the terrain I will never forget.

I took a goodly number of supplements but, after discussion with my brother, we think that OptyGen was what really kept us going.  I have no other way to explain climbing continuously under only arm-power for 45 minutes in the lowest gear, not knowing if each crank would be my last, then getting to the summit and being able to speed on after a short (less than one minute recovery).  My heartrate ran unusually low despite the efforts.  I think the best evidence of this was on day 7 when the wheelchair broke and I took a 2.5 hour break.  I had been operating over hilly Scottish terrain for 8 hours in rain and cold and was absolutely fried.  I got into a hot bath while the team worked on my bike and while in the bath, I coaxed my RHR down to less than 60.  Keep in mind my RHR upon exiting the hospital barely 2 months earlier was over 90.  For the record, I didn’t use the HP version on the ride, but did do! uble-dose, three in the AM and three in the evening with some nitrox, fish, milk and aminos.  Despite fatigue of the highest order each morning, I was usually into my stride with an hour and we seldom spent less than 10 hours on the road, VERY little of which was easy terrain.  We averaged 25mph over the last 16 miles…but that was only because I was running on pure adrenaline and the scent of the finish line.

Rick Ryan

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I am the new Long Point, OT to Freeport Beach , PA record holder with a time of 11:23. The record was broken by exactly 30 minutes with the former holder there to witness. The swim was great except for the 2-4 foot waives the entire crossing.

Hey, the First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot was great.  I took it on the hour and my strength was did not waiver the entire swim.  Not a single cramp in my Arms and Shoulders.

Thanks for the advice!

First Endurance rider Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) sprinted to his twenty-first victory of the season in stage two of the Tour of Ireland on Saturday.  ”It’s always good to win,” Cavendish said afterwards, “and though it was a tough finish we managed to take control of things with two kilometres to go.  ”It was a team win, one guy crosses the line with his arms in the air, but it’s a success for everybody.”

The winner of six stages in the Tour de France this summer, Cavendish said, “This is the first time I’ve gone really deep since July.  ”I’m not going to be going for the overall here, but for sure it’s an objective for the team. We won it last year with an amazing ride on the last day, and I think we can do it again.”  After Ireland, Cavendish’s next race will be the Tour of Missouri in the USA.  ”My objective there is a stage win. After that, I’ll go on to the World Championships, where I’ll be going to support my team-mates, and then I want to do Paris-Tours.”  Saturday’s triumph was Cavendish fourth stage victory of his career in the Tour of Ireland, and brings the tally of 2009 wins for Columbia-HTC’s men’s team to 68.

COLUMBIA-HTC TESTING NEW 1st ENDURANCE PROTOTYPES-Columbia-HTC is working with 1st Endurance on a new OptygenHP upgrade and a new EFS drink upgrade.  They’ve had the OptygenHP prototype since the Tour of California and received the EFS drink prototype right before the Tour of Ireland.

First Endurance rider Michael Albasini (Columbia-HTC) was crowned the overall winner in the Tour of Austria on Sunday, while teammate Andre Greipel added to the team’s celebrations by blasting to victory in the final stage.   Albasini moved into the lead thanks to his victory in the second day’s racing to the mountain top finish of Kitzbüheler Horn, then held the yellow jersey all the way to Sunday’s final stage from Podersdorf am Neusielder See to Vienna.  Greipel was equally successful in the points competition, winning the green jersey outright thanks to his three stage victories.

“I’m very proud of this win because it’s the first stage race victory for Columbia-HTC this season, and it was a real team effort, too” Albasini said.  “We only had six riders for a lot of the race, and that made it difficult to control at times, but we managed to do it. I’m very grateful to my teammates for all the hard work they did.  Over the last two years I’ve worked hard to improve my climbing and that has helped me win here. It’s very encouraging.  Time trialling remains my biggest weak point, but I managed to get through the race’s time trial and then after that I could begin to think about celebrating overall.  Now I’ll go on to do the Tour of Poland and the Tour of Spain, as part of my build-up for the World Championships.”

Greipel’s stage victory on Sunday was his 13th win of the 2009 season, just one fewer than his 2008 total of 14.  “We only got back the last break of the day with a kilometre to go and there were some tram lines 200 metres from the finish, but I felt really good and sure of my chances.  It wasn’t too hard a win.  We’d done ten laps of the finishing circuit so I knew what I had to face, and I had a good lead-out as usual. My team did a great job.  Now I’ll go on to the Tour of Saxony in Germany and try and get some more wins there.”

After Sunday’s double success, Columbia-HTC’s total of victories in 2009 has climbed to 56, the highest tally of wins for any professional team this season.

NEW OPTYGENHP COMING SOON-

First Endurance develops and tests new product prototypes is by getting them in the hands of their sponsored athletes. Input and trials from these athletes allow the First Endurance research and development team to continue to push the limits of endurance. Team Astana & Columbia-HTC  have been testing a new OptygenHP prototype since early February.  First Endurance plans to launch the new, upgraded version of OptygenHP later this year.