Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Running a relay race from Montreal to New York City is no picnic, but a group of Icebreaker-sponsored athletes recently met this awesome challenge.

Our Montreal Touch_Lab_ sponsored 10 athletes and two coaches from ‘Esprit de Corps’ to compete in the 617k race. The relay involved running 10k six times, which was especially tough for those athletes who hadn’t done any endurance running before.

Sonia Laboursodiere, a member of group, feared her injuries would prevent her from running her part of the relay.  Despite thinking that the race was “a bit insane”, Sonia decided to go ahead to prove to her four sons “that when you really want something in life, you can achieve it”.

It was a hard slog, but Sonia and her fellow runners successfully completed the race in about 65 hours. All the athletes were running to raise funds for a summer camp for underprivileged children.

“Life sometimes bringing us at a point where we need to make a decision about what we want to accomplish.  This challenge has made me realize that I am able to do more than I thought,” says Sonia.

“I feel much strong and more confident than I did before the race.”

The team all wore Icebreaker_GT tops and caps. Later, they said the fit and style of their Velocity Crewe tops were amazing, very comfortable, and didn’t stink.

Rejean Roussy - Montreal Touch_Lab Manager

Icebreaker has our very own Ironman - Makuini Warbrick!

Being a single girl I was devoting too much time to work! So I decided I needed something in my life that would 1) keep me to normal work hours 2) be a goal big enough I couldn’t fake 3) be a goal big enough that I couldn’t leave it to the last minute 4) take care of my health.  Ironman fit the bill.

I’ve thought for a long time that Ironman was cool and would be an awesome feat but that it was for someone else.  Then I found myself needing a goal above and found my reason to do Ironman.  I’m not a girl who has exercise on the brain - in fact my brain is not wired like that in the slightest, but working at Icebreaker, well, I’m surrounded by crazy people who’ve swept me up into their world of exercise and competing in events.

I decided to do this 48 weeks out from Ironman NZ, 7 March 2009. My training included lots of swimming, biking and jogging - I’m a swimmer so I loved the swimming part.  I hadn’t been on a bike for 10 years, so buying a bike and learning how to ride a road bike was interesting and ultimately I came to like it. Running, on the other hand, I didn’t like - and only had a major mental breakthrough just 6 weeks before Ironman.

Most of my training was by myself (others at work were training for an event 3 weeks before mine).  I did have a cycle group I rode with on a Sunday that brought my bike fitness from 0 to 1.5hrs.  Most of the inspiring athletes at Icebreaker are faster than me, but I was game and went out a few times on the bike with them.  A friend from work, an ex-swimmer, became my swim training buddy which was vital in getting started cause having someone waiting for you at 6am was another good reason to train the body to get up at 5.30am.  I ended up joining a swim squad and found other crazy people with the same goal.

Before Ironman day, I had completed two half Ironmans, so the longest run I covered was 21km and the longest training ride I did was 130km. 

Ironman was fabulous - I had a great day.  An Ironman couple (both completed Ironman 2007) made a point to tell me to ‘make sure you enjoy the day. You’ve done all this training so enjoy the whole day!’

I DID IT!  I have great friends at Icebreaker and was privileged to have 10 of them make their way to Taupo to support me. I had a brief moment where I spazzed out at my brother cause he made a comment I didn’t like, but other than that - all good.

Training for 48 weeks is a LONG time so having people around asking how my training was going helped keep me on track.  The flip side to having lots of people know what your goal is, is that you can’t wimp out.  I was doing the Rotorua Half Ironman event and was having a tough time on the bike and wanted to give up, but what kept me going was that one of the guys from work did Around Taupo with an arm in a cast so the only viable reason not to finish was that I was in hospital and I wasn’t prepared to go to those lengths!  So some days you have to suck it up, others you enjoy, and once you’re in the finish chute of Ironman, you forget about it all.

Coming down the finish chute I was extremely happy and proud plus amazed that I was still in good form and spirits.  All that hard work, $$ spent, knowledge gained had paid off - I fulfilled my goal - I am an Ironman.  WOW! 

One of my favourite quotes is ‘define success in terms of your own potential’ I didn’t break any records, but my goal was to complete Ironman - and I did.  Now I wonder what other potential I have in me?

- Makuini Warbrick, Icebreaker Head Office

While members of Poland’s Tatra Mount Rescue Service (TOPR) protect climbers on the High Tatras Mountains, Icebreaker socks will be protecting the rescuers’ feet.

More than 200 professional mountain rescuers from TOPR will keep their feet warm and snug in our Hiker Heavy, Skiier Lite or Skiier Mid socks while they patrol the High Tatras, which are on the borders between Slovakia and Poland.

Seven TOPR members are now wearing Icebreaker socks and clothing on a Himalayan expedition to Dhaulagiri. The expedition was organised to celebrate 100 years of TOPR, which was founded in 1909 by Mariusz Zaruski to provide tourists, skiiers, climbers and visitors to the High Tatras with first aid.

The group of professional mountain rescuers, which includes the general chief, all have experience from past expeditions and are mountain guides, skiiers and ski-mountaineers.

They are completing the classic route to the summit of the 8167m-high Dhaulagiri (White Mountain), which was the first route ever climbed by expedition members in the 1960s. The famous Polish mountaineer and TOPR rescuer, Jerzy Hajdukiewicz, participated in that first expedition.

The team departed on March 23 and is expected back in Poland on May 14.

For more details on the climb, click here.