Food power across the atlantic

Healthy eating has a new meaning if you're rowing an ocean, writes ROBIN BAILEY.

Food the fat police decree is deadly - that is the diet nutritional scientist Dr Rachel Brown says is ideal for four New Zealand athletes about to set out on the Transatlantic Challenge rowing race.

By breaking established healthy eating guidelines, Brown believes she will give our rowers an edge in terms of energy for weight. She also sees the food programme as being suitable for other sportspeople whose energy expenditure is high and time for recovery is limited.

Telecom Transatlantic Challenge rowers Rob Hamill, Steve Westlake, Steph Brown and Jude Ellis this week saw their boats airfreighted off to the start line at Tenerife.

Before that happened came the meticulous chore of packing the stores and equipment, a job that Steph planned and supervised.

"The boats need to be properly trimmed and we also need to know exactly where everything is stowed," she says. "We don't need to find a breakfast cereal when we're looking for a dinner pack."

Brown says her primary goal was to counter the huge energy expenditure of the rowers, estimated to be at the limits of human endurance and of a magnitude that has rarely previously been reported over such a prolonged period. This involved:

* Meeting as well as possible the energy needs of the rowers, who will exercise for 12 hours each day for 40 to 90 days.

* Minimising weight loss.

* Optimising the energy-to-weight ratio of foods to keep the boats as light as possible.

* Designing diets that can be consumed at sea.

* Catering for the food likes and dislikes of the rowers.

"Because the energy expenditure of the athletes is so high they are all likely to lose weight," says Brown.

"We know that in the last race Rob Hamill lost 14kg. Weight loss results in the loss of some muscle mass, which can negatively affect performance if it is too extreme.

"The job, therefore, was to design their nutrition to minimise the loss of muscle mass.

"It was also necessary to consider the weight of food the rowers needed to carry in the boats. This is where the energy-to-weight ratios of food is important.

"Foods with a higher fat content contain more energy per unit weight, therefore we have chosen foods with a relatively high fat content."

Studies carried out at the Department of Human Nutrition at the University of Otago show that endurance capacity is maintained on a high-fat diet and that athletes taking part in high volumes of exercise showed no negative effects in terms of their cholesterol levels on such as diet.

The men will be carrying 231kg of food for the race and the women 214kg. This is because men, with larger muscle mass, need more energy to fuel their bodies. Both teams will be eating similar types of food, the women just need less of it.

They will all be eating six meals a day. These will include high-energy breakfast cereals; a specially designed protein drink; a carbohydrate replacement sports drink; and freeze-dried foods for the evening meal, including dishes such as beef and pasta hot-pot, sweet and sour lamb and honey soy chicken.

Important additional energy is provided by Propel Bars, which are designed for endurance and ultra-endurance athletes. As well, the rowers will be chomping on Snickers bars and other high-energy foods such as dried fruit and nuts, potato chips, cabin bread and crackers with tuna, salami and cheese spread.

The food side of the race taken care of, the rowers turned to Line 7 for clothing. Managing director Ross Munro says providing clothing for Team New Zealand and Volvo Ocean Race crews was easy compared with looking after the rowers.

"Spending 24 hours a day exposed to the elements means the four have some special requirements," Munro says. "Rob's experience last time helped us create a range of technically sophisticated garments using the highest-performance fabrics."

The result is racing shirts, shorts and caps in a quick-dry, sun-resistant and breathable polyester mesh. The wet-weather gear is made from extremely lightweight, waterproof and breathable fabric that is not bulky and provides maximum comfort.

The cool-weather rowing gear has a first layer of superfine New Zealand merino wool with reversed seams throughout. This eliminates any risk of abrasion while providing both warmth and breathability.

Will this type of high-tech clothing have a place on the mainstream market?

Munro is sure that it will, thanks to the challenge given his company by the rowers.