2004 has began and so has the manufacturing of the sports food that athletes will use to power their bodies through their competitions. I call this food space food after the early Apollo missions when spacemen talked about how their food would come in concentrated form in sealed sachets and they would have lots of powder food to mix with water to supply their dietary needs. Not all that different from Leppin products etc.

Hippy food is what I mainly eat on a daily basis which includes lots of fruit, nuts, vegetables, oats and meats - natural food. We all know what junk food consists of.

There has been much talk about nutrition in sport since the Spartan Warrior days and it seems to be continually on the move.

I have been led to believe many things from readings stacks of books and trying different methods - but the best diet seems to be the one that works for you.

I say this because I have witnessed in real life and read of some unorthodox champion athlete diets and it makes me question some of the hype around fad eating ideas.

I recently read a book about John Walker and it seemed to me he frequently ate fish and chips, drank beer and ate Moro bars. When Keith Murray set the Coast to Coast course record in 1994 he claimed he did it on raro and ginger nuts - I'm sure Griffins noticed a big increase in ginger nut sales after that. Whether it was true or not, I still see people paddling down rivers with soggy ginger nuts filling their buoyancy vest. Steve Gurney had McDonalds for one of his pre race winning longest day dinners.

I'm not promoting junk food, but I don't think it's as bad as what some people think, if you're an athlete burning it up.

The Mild Seven Outdoor Quest is co sponsored by Pizza Hut, Coke, KFC and Walls ice cream. You could say fitting co sponsors with a tobacco company.

During the race athletes fueled themselves on their chosen space food, Leppin, protein bars and drinks etc. But after the race I noticed some interesting things.

The top athletes would pack down as much junk food as possible. ( I only ever saw what the top 4-5 teams ate as I would then bus back to the hotel).

Some of the observations:

• Day 1 - on the bus to the hotel Keith Murray ate a whole family size pizza, drank 4 cans of coke and ate ice cream.
  
• Day 3 - after the racing, Keith drank 12 cans of coke and ate KFC in 1 hour.
  
• John Jacoby ate over 100 magnum ice creams over the event. He had eaten 63 by the time the race had started and continued with a solid 10 per day for the rest of the race.
  
• Richard Usher - (who I thought when he was towing me was the strongest guy in the race) although not in Johns league - still managed a few magnums.
  
• KFC was a favourite for the NOKIA boys and their Grandad (45 year old male instead of the spunky young blonde they used to race with) and they weren't shy to enjoy a few dozen magnums either.
  

I questioned a well travelled New Zealand sports doctor about this and his reply was;

"coca cola is quite possibly, the worlds perfect sports drink".

When I asked if he was serious he replied:

"Pepsi could be, but I haven't done any testing with it".

After racing for 5-8 hours in nearly 40 degrees at a high intensity for 4 consecutive days, maybe a magnum ice cream has many of the things the body needs - sugar, fats and proteins.

The legendary Bob Foster was the Grandad in a team at MSOQ. After day 2 he looked liked crap. I decided Bob needed a Magnum. I took him one down to the gear hall but Bob turned it down. I was surprised as my past racing experiences with Bob have been that he combines the diets of many top athletes - John Walker and Keith Murray. I think if Bob had of been drinking more beer and wine, eating magnums and local food - he may not have gone any faster but I'm sure he would have enjoyed the trip all that much more.

Don't get me wrong - Leppin squeezes are the first thing I pack to go racing, but don't under estimate the power of a Magnum and the Colonels secret herbs and spices.

...and Marcel, you may have noticed Kristina and I were never at breakfast, we were in our room eating NZ organic porridge, with NZ organic honey and local bananas.