Icebreaker - Pure Merino

In an effort purely to make my Icebreaker colleagues extremely jealous, I thought I would share my recent experience of wearing our gorgeous Icebreaker products in extreme heat – and in a glorious location!

I have just returned from a month long holiday in the Greek Islands with my family (Mum, Dad and my brother Richard). For one of those weeks, we sailed our wee yacht, Mikinos (a Dufour 385), as part of a Nautilus Yachting flotilla around the Sporades Islands.

Highlights of the week of sailing were seeing various sites from the Mamma Mia movie – including THE church (and yes, humming the songs while we were there), having dolphins surround the boat and play around our bow, and visiting gorgeous quaint Greek villages on the islands of Skiathos, Skopelos, and Alonissos.

Greece was experiencing a heat wave in June (as most of Europe still is!) and temperatures averaged 35 degrees plus each day. To say that we lived in nothing but Icebreaker is an understatement!

I think our fellow yachties thought that dad only owned one t-shirt as his Icebreaker GT Velocity Crewe was pretty much his skippers uniform each day; Richard liked to pull out his Superfine tee’s or Stripe Club Polo for dinners at the local taverna’s each night; and mum and I (who are lucky enough to be the same size) simply shared Superfine tanks – together we had eight different colours!

The other members of the flotilla were amazed to hear that we had all been wearing nothing but Icebreaker for a couple of weeks, yet the garments didn’t smell.

When you are travelling and living out of a backpack, and then confined to a small yacht, space is of a premium. Being able to pack light and make the most of the garments we took was essential.

The fact that one t-shirt could take us from hoisting the sails and sweating during the day, being thrown on after a swim off the back of the boat, and then worn out for dinner at night and still look good was just awesome!

- Leah Evans, Global Communications Executive

Hey Icebreaker,

Once again this year I decided to put myself through a whole heap of pain for no apparent reason! Specifically on this occasion it was for the Peak to Peak Multisport race in Queenstown. The Peak to Peak starts at the Remarkables Ski field at the highest peak with a small run in ski boots quickly followed by a ski leg down the black run Homeward Bound.

After jumping the fence it’s on to the Mountain Bike for a blast down the access road, followed by a flat section along to Frankton Beach. Here is where the real race starts, a 9km kayak around into Queenstown bay, from this point you don the running shoes and run out of town towards Coronet Peak, at the base of the hill you jump on your bike and have the lovely ride to the top!

All in all it’s a solid day at the office!!

This year I travelled up to Central from Dunedin on Friday and then set about getting all of the gear needed ready for the next morning. I decided that I would wear a IcebreakerGT 200 long sleeve top the whole way from start to finish along with my other cycle gear.

With a dedicated support crew of Dad, my girlfriend Amy (Thanks for coming from Christchurch) and local lad Tom (I promised him Subway for helping me) we set off to Queenstown to the start of the race.

At 12:10pm on Saturday the chaos began. The ski wasn’t too bad although poor snow cover made some parts interesting! Then onto the Mountain bike all was good although in retrospect I should have chosen different tyres as parts of the road were greasy!

Into the kayak all things started well until I went to take a drink from my lifejacket, nothing happened… I came to the conclusion that there was a kink in the hose (later revealed that there was) so I was stuck drinking straight Leppin, which sat uncomfortably in my stomach!

Onto the run and I quickly downed a large portion of water from my Fuelbelt and then tried to get into a steady pace, my left leg had gone numb in the kayak, so I invented a new running style! Not sure how efficient it is though! The run didn’t really improve much, my legs felt heavy the whole time and my stomach was trying to get rid of some Leppin any way possible.

Onto the last ride and I started to push pretty hard, I had borrowed a bike with lighter wheels and lower gears than mine to make the uphill as easy as possible. Lucky I had! Through all the pain I managed to get to the top, and with Tom running the last few km’s beside me to make me go faster!!

Finally crossing the finish line I had been out there for 2hr54min, which in comparison isn’t heaps but it hurt!! I managed to be 1st junior male, and improved my time by 15minutes from last year, next year I have to jump up to the Open male section, but I will be better prepared than ever!

My clothing choices were perfect for the conditions, I never got to hot or cold, and even I was surprised I didn’t smell at the finish!! Here are a couple photos from the final hill climb, excuse the pain on my face!!

Thanks Icebreaker!!

- Blake Luff, Icebreaker Fan

I have just completed a 869 mile, 6 day cycle trip across the UK (3-8 July), from Lands End to John O’Groats, which was done in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.

I wore my black Icebreaker baselayer for the entire trip along with a red GT cycling jersey and socks kindly donated by Icebreaker.

Unfortunately I tore my GT top on some thorns at the side of the road on day 2, but the merino worked its magic and I can honestly say that there was no stink at the end of the journey – unlike my synthetic waterproof!

That’s me at the start in the ‘Lands End’ photo (on the left). The ‘Harrowgate’ picture was taken on our trip home (by car!!) and features me with the other team members: my co-rider Dave Bowering, his wife Sue, their dog Izzy, and daughter Holly.

Sue, Holly and Izzy drove the back-up vehicle in case of emergencies, which luckily we did not need.

I have nearly reached my target of £1500.00 and my employer will match the sponsorship, effectively doubling it. Check out my fundraising here: http://www.justgiving.com/friendsoftheends

I would like to say a BIG thank you to Icebreaker for your support.

- Alex Shaw, Icebreaker Fan