Thanks for all the advice ladies! My boyfriend had a blast and his team finished 8th out of 20. We are really happy with the result as 3 of the 4 ppl on his team (including him) had never raced on a mtb before. All your advice was invaluble and I was able to keep the team fed, watered and happy. I loved being there so much it renewed my resolve to get better at the mountainbike thing and devote more of my time to off-road activities.

Spokewrech - your extra kits idea was wonderful. He loved changing into a fresh kit.

We are also glad we 'overpacked' extra bike parts. He ended up breaking a cog on his cassette but was able to repair on trail to be stuck in one gear for the remainder of the lap then get back and tag out a team mate so that we could make the repair with the extra cassette he brought.