Nat Bromhead
PURE Sports Nutrition’s newly launched Performance + Race Fuel has been developed with the endurance athlete in mind, boasting 90 grams of carbs and 650 mg of sodium per serve. But how does this benefit us as athletes, and is it going to up our performance? We spoke to the PURE team to get the scoop.
PURE Co-founder and Managing Director, Simon Kraak told us about his initial aspirations for the product and said he’s seen some great innovation in the ingredient and sports science space over recent years.
“We wanted to create a new race-specific range tailored to athletes pushing the limits of endurance,” he said.
“Race Fuel is the first product to be launched in this Performance + range. Race Fuel is the best sports drink that we could formulate, and the end result is a product that is so easy to use and has everything you need. It can be dialed to however many carbs you want, so you are not mucking around with lots of different products in a race situation, and you can change the consistency to what you like, adjusting the water content to suit. It takes a while to adjust too, as it’s more like water in taste compared to a traditional sports drink, and you are so used to associating high carbs with sweetness, it’s hard to believe that there are so many carbs in there.”
Race Fuel was in development for over a year – the challenge was how to get lots of carbs and sodium into a drink mix, to build an all-in-one nutrition solution, without making it sickly sweet or hard to get down, and that didn’t create havoc with the stomach.
PURE worked closely with Accredited Sport Dietitian Conrad Goodhew through the Race Fuel development process. Goodhew brings the experience of having worked with professional rugby players, track and field athletes, endurance athletes, and ultra runners, and is a bit of an athlete himself, so he contributes his personal experiences as well.
“We used the compound Cluster Dextrin as the main source of carbohydrate in the race fuel, because it has a similar composition as linear maltodextrin,” he said.
“However, the difference is it is bound up into a tight little ball, where studies have shown this can actually increase the time of gastric emptying and can reduce those symptoms of reflux, burping, and even vomiting when we are consuming huge amounts of carbohydrates, like we are hoping to do in longer events.
“The reason why we didn’t go for the two-to-one glucose to fructose ratio in the race fuel was that we wanted to have most of the carbohydrate made up of cluster dextrin to really reduce upper gastrointestinal issues that you can get with large carbohydrate intake.
Another reason is with the emerging evidence of gut training, we may actually be able to tolerate slightly more glucose than what we previously thought, but what we can also do is top up with other foods that have potentially a high sucrose component, which then if we take a 50 / 50 in compounds like that, the fructose ratio would then match really nicely with the race fuel, especially on those longer events.”
Kraak said it was Pure’s intention to develop a drink that was highly palatable and well tolerated.
“One that athletes didn’t get sick of,” he said. “And we knew we needed to pack in a lot of sodium without that horrible saltwater taste.” Goodhew adds, “the sodium concentration is a lot higher in the Race Fuel than most other sports drinks that are on the market today, the biggest reason being that emerging evidence is indicating that we may not be getting enough sodium, in particular in those longer races, to help us replace what we’ve lost in sweat as well as help the movement of the glucose molecule, which is the Cluster Dextrin, out of the gastrointestinal tract to help with fuelling and rehydration.
“You may also find the first time you use it, it’s a bit of an obscure taste, a lot less flavour, a lot less sweet and the fluid consistency is a little bit thicker than just standard water. So, it’s not quite your normal sports drink.” He goes on to say, “once you’ve used it a few times, you will find that it will become a lot easier and you’ll start to crave it, especially on those longer training sessions, so even if you don’t like it the first time, give it a few goes, trust me, it will only get better over time.”
Customer Feedback
PURE has had a huge amount of positive feedback since they launched the Race Fuel in November. Kraak comments, “yeah it’s awesome to see cause we thought it might take a bit more convincing, more education to get people to try it, because it’s so different to what people are used to, so different to what’s out there on the market”.
Take a look at some of the customer feedback and you can make your own decision about the Race Fuel – here are some recent examples –
“I’m a reasonable size 6-foot four frame and the old endurance events, adventure racing, and biking, nutrition has always been my challenge. PURE Sports Nutrition – Race Fuel, the 90 grams of carbs, I felt great all day, to be fair, and it lasted the whole day. It’s probably the best stuff I’ve had to date, which is saying something, because I’ve had a lot of stuff, it can upset your stomach, make me feel shit, but this was great, it’s awesome!”
“I think the cool thing about it is being able to drink it. You know sometimes it’s hard when you are racing to open up gels and stuff, so to be able to get your calories in by drink is a real perk.”
“I have recently switched to Race Fuel after being a long-time fan of the endurance formula. I race ultras of up to 100 miles, so I know the crucial role that nutrition plays in delivering performances I have trained so hard for on the day. This stuff is absolute rocket fuel, and it is hugely reassuring to know how much energy it packs. What probably impresses me the most though is how well the Race Fuel went down – the naked flavor meant that I could suck away as if it was water.”
“I was very impressed with the Race fuel powder during the four-day cycling race (Five passes) it made life so much easier getting the carbs in during the racing stages. No tummy upsets, tastes good. Rather than relying on gels, I was able to easily drink this incredible stuff! It’s that good I’m already thinking I’ll use it for big training days too. 100% recommend!”
For further details and to purchase visit The Pure Sports Nutrition Website
