Posts Tagged ‘Southern Traverse’

Adventure Racing has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years. These challenges are extreme in their nature and push each participant to the very limits of their endurance… and beyond…

I first came across adventure racing when I was investigating the Sabah Eco-Challenge in Borneo.

The Eco-Challenge was created by Mark Burnett having been inspired by an L.A. Times article about Gerald Fusil’s Raid Gauloises Adventure Race in Costa Rica. Burnett formed a team and competed in two Raid Gauloises events. Although his teams did poorly, he decided to create a similar race in North America. When the race went international, Burnett purchased the rights from Fusil and set out to make the Eco-Challenge the world’s premier adventure race. Thanks to SilverBullet1999 for this video:

Each team comprised a mandatory mix of both men and women, racing non-stop, 24 hours a day, over a rugged 300-mile (500km) course, participating in such disciplines as trekking, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, mountaineering and mountain biking. Teams originally consisted of five members, but the team size was reduced to four members early in the event’s history.

A race was held once a year, starting in 1995. Sadly, Burnett decided in 2002 that Fiji would be the last Eco-Challenge.

However, this has not been the end of adventure racing as we all well know. The Raid continues in France, where the concept of Adventure Racing was first dreamed up by Gerard Fusil.

The Raid Gauloises, or The Raid, is considered by many to be the first modern Adventure Race and was first held in 1989. Fusil took the existing concept of long distance endurance races, and focused on the team aspects, requiring each competitor to be part of a five person co-ed team. The Raid had no set course, with competitors being required to rely on their wits and judgment to reach the specified checkpoints. The Raid was named after its original sponsor, the Gauloises Cigarette Company.

Fusil left the Raid in 1998 to begin a new Adventure Race series: the Elf Authentic Adventure. 2003 was the last year for the Raid Gauloises. In 2004 the Raid Gauloises was retooled into the Raid World Championship.

The Raid World Championship operates in the same way: it is a long distance non-stop race lasting between 5 to 7 days and nights. The distance covered is often in excess of 200km. If all team members do not complete the race the team is  eliminated. The final results are then ranked by total distance and  time. The team that covers the longest distance or the shortest time wins. All teams participate in the ranking. The Raid features various disciplines depending on the terrain present in the given course. The course changes each year, but kayaking, mountain biking, sea kayaking, hydro speed, in-line skating, cross orienteering, mountain climbing, caving, snow shoeing and skiing are the most popular disciplines encountered. The X Adventure Race consists of up to 50 teams from different countries in the world, each team has 4 racers and 1 assistant, teams are usually mixed, at least one man and women per team. Racers are always on the course, the assistant is not. The best team from each zone (geographic region) qualifies for the semi-finals.

Back in North America, Primal Quest has taken over from Eco-Challenge – it is said to be the most difficult athletic event in the world. It is known as the Super Bowl of Adventure Racing and has the biggest purse for the winning team. Each race lasts up to ten days, with winning teams completing the course in approximately six days. Each team is required to have four members and must be co-ed.

Each team also has to carry a GPS monitoring device allowing race organizers and spectators to track each team real-time via the Internet on the Primal Quest website. This device does not offer any navigational assistance to the teams, but can be used in an emergency to signal for help.

The first Primal Quest race was held in 2002 in Colorado. This year it will be in South Dakota – 2009 Primal Quest Badlands Adventure Race. Beginning 14th August, contestants from around the world will compete in co-ed teams of 4. They will run, bike, paddle and navigate their way over 600 miles (965+ km) of some of the most diverse terrain anywhere on the planet. They will experience towering spires, rolling hills, open vistas, dense forests and steep-walled canyons as they scramble up rock faces, go spelunking in the local cave systems, and explore miles of local back country. The race will include the traditional long treks that PQ is known for and beautiful kayaking sections.

Watching the PQ promotional video (bridgeport69) for 2008 will give you a very good idea of what this race is all about:

Wow…

Then of course there’s Southern Traverse in New Zealand which I have written about many times. Southern Traverse Ltd. is a premier international Sport Event Management company.  It operates and manages elite events around the world, including the Adventure Racing World Championship, the AR World Series and New Zealand’s icon adventure race, the Macpac Southern Traverse.

The Swazi-Xtreme Adventure Race (adventurelisa) is held  in late-April/May in Swaziland (a Kingdom within South Africa) in South Africa annually.

There’s Raid the North, Odyssey, Max AR, Frontier AR Canada (DrWheels) and so many others. Adventure Racing grows in popularity as each year goes past, and watching the following video will help you understand why…

Here is a unique winter race for you to consider – the Peak to Peak North Face which links two ski mountains in Queensland, New Zealand.

Starting at The Remarkables with a 200m run down to the start of the  2km skiing/snowboarding course which finishes at the access road, followed by a 17km mountain bike road down the high altitude road to Lake Wakatipu. A 7km paddle to Queenstown Bay leads to a 9km run from Queenstown via Arthur’s Point, to a changeover point near the foot of Coronet Peak, for the final 9km cycle ride to the base buildings at the top of the ski area.

There is something very special about standing on the start line high up in the Remarkables and looking across to Coronet Peak and the finish line off in the distance.

The race is extremely competitive from the very beginning and it is worth bearing in mind advice from previous contestants – one of the hardest parts of the race is the 200m run to your skis at the very beginning. With all the build-up, the cold and bottled  adrenaline, the race explodes with aggression at the start point.

Race director Geoff Hunt says the event is aimed  not only at the accomplished multi-sport athlete, but, with the distances achievable by all, it encourages people at all levels of fitness to enter.

The courses encompasses snow covered mountains, steep gravelled and tarmac ski field access roads, State Highways and tarmac rural roads, QLDC Reserve, public walking / cycling tracks, and Lakes Wakatipu and Hayes. The event will generally be held in all conditions.

This race is open to individuals and/or teams of two to five people. There’s still time to enter…

A new addition to the rules this year is that a ski helmet must be used – if you don’t have a ski helmet a bike one will do.

For more information please contact www.southerntraverse.com/peak2peak

The North Face Peak to Peak has a serious side to it too. Each year they support a charity of their choice and this year they have chosen the Bruce Grant Youth Trust. It is asking all competitors to make a donation to the Trust set up in the name of a young Queenstown adventurer, Bruce Grant, who tragically died in 1995 after summiting K2 Mountain.

Trustee Alexa Forbes says the Bruce Grant Youth Trust is delighted to be the recipient for the event. “The Trust is about raising funds to help young people in the Wakatipu achieve their goals and the support of the Peak to Peak organisers and athletes is inspirational as well as practical. There are no costs associated with the running of the Trust so anyone making a donation can be assured that every dollar collected is a dollar for one of our recipients.”

Due to popular demand, the deadline to enter the New World Tour de Wakatipu mountain bike event has been extended to the 5th April, 5pm. This is the inaugural 2009 Easter event. Ignore the previous deadline and spread the word!

ENTRY FEE:
$65 per person
$45 Junior (19 years and under)

For all entries $5 go to Cure Kids.

We first told you all about this event a few weeks ago… 7th March to be exact, and it seems as though so much attention has been drawn to the event that the response has been fantastic – 500 confirmed entrants so far and expected to climb to 700 or so.

Remember that the 45km event takes place in previously inaccessible parts of the district, traversing a course from Millbrook Resort to Chard Farm. The entries for the event now close on Sunday 5th April. The race is on Easter Saturday, 11th April.

The event, which caters for elite, sport and recreational mountain bikers, “has caught the imagination of people from all over the region and other parts of the South Island,” says Geoff Hunt, director of Southern Traverse and organisers of the event.

“This is an event which offers people exclusive access to the right
bank of the Kawarau River. The chance to go to places which are
usually off limits has created a huge response with over half the
field entered in the recreational division. This indicates clearly
the demand from ’social athletes’ for events of this nature and we
are pleased to be able to provide a course which suits all levels.”

So, if you’re in the vicinity, and looking for something different to do – go to the official website and sign up quickly on the online entry form…

www.tourdewakatipu.co.nz

And while we’re reminding you about forthcoming events, if freediving is what you’re interested in, don’t forget that the Dean’s Blue Hole Competition starts tomorrow, 1st April and will go on until the 11th.

Dean’s Blue Hole is the world’s deepest blue hole (underwater sinkhole), which plunges 202 meters (663ft) to the ocean floor, in a bay on Long Island, Bahamas.

Good luck everyone…

Southern Traverse is organising another extreme event in New Zealand – this one a mountain bike race which is set in the Wakatipu Basin that links the two rivers and two lakes using some of the new tracks developed by the Wakatipu Trails Trust.

The race will be 45kms long and has been organised in response to the ever increasing demand for biking events, both serious and recreational, in the region.

It is expected that there will be intense competition at the front of the field as athletes race to finish the event in a time of around 2.5 – 3hrs, while the recreational athletes will finish in about 5hrs.

Competitors will Start in the Millbrook area and will finish at Chard farm winery with barbeque and band. Please click on this map to see the full route.

There will be several divisions to choose from:

• Recreational: for racers who wish to have a good fun ride. 36kms total
• Sport: For racers who wish a longer challenge, and a decent ride. 45kms
• Elite & Pro Teams : for the fast and furious, 45kms total. For the Pro teams, 3 riders per team, all riders must enter and complete the individual section. All 3 riders times will be added to determine the winners of this category. Pro teams must ride the same colours

Age groups will be split up as follows:

• Junior 15 – 19yrs …………
• Open 20 – 39yrs …………
• Veteran 40 – 49yrs ……….
• Master 50 – 59yrs ………..
• Master + 60+yrs…………

And age refers to AGE ON RACE DAY !

ENTRY FEE:
$65 per person
$45 Junior (19 years and under)

For all entries $5 go to Cure Kids.

ENTRIES CLOSE
27th March 2009 or when full … SO HURRY.

For further information please Email: traverse@queenstown.co.nz

Wow … what scenery. What terrain to run an extreme race through.

Southern Traverses’ Macpac 24 Hour weekend got off to a flying start on Friday night at midnight at the Greenstone, with a 14km trek to Lake Rere and Mt Bastard. There was a full moon and clear, calm conditions.

A 21km mountain bike stage took competitors from Kinloch to Paradise and this was followed by a 9km trek in Paradise Conservation Park alongside the Dart River which proved to be tough going.

Once having reached the Dart River the competitors paddled across to gain access to an 11km trek on Sugarloaf.

“It was incredibly windy by this time but the temperature remained in the 20’s, says Hunt, “so it wasn’t unpleasant racing, just a bit tougher coping with the wind.”

A final paddle followed the Dart River for 7kms to finish at Paradise with a 2km run to the finish line where champagne awaited the winners.

Aurum Survey represented by New Zealand orienteering representative Bruce McLeod and top multisporter Phil Wood, won the race as predicted. They completed it in 19 hours 42 minutes.
“Their combined orienteering and multisport skills definitely made them the strongest team on paper and they lived up to expectations,” says Hunt.

But the exciting event was the placing, on the podium, of an Under-23 team, One2onemultipsport.co.nz, a team made up of Dougal Allan, Mike Walker, Mattie Graham and Emmah Ussher, who finished the race in 22hrs and 21 secs, finishing runner-up to the experienced and talented two man Aurum Survey Queenstown team.

“They were chuffed to finish a Southern Traverse course and with the sort of talent they and the other Under 23 competitors are displaying New Zealand adventure racing is in good hands,” says Hunt. “One2onemultisport.co.nz beat some other very experienced teams and these are the athletes who will carry on the tradition of the sport. At the World Adventure Racing Championships in Brazil in October the New Zealand team Orion Health.com not only won the event but seven out of the top twelve racers competing were Kiwis, numbers which speak for themselves.”

The eight hour adventure challenge introduced for the first time this year began at the Greenstone with a rough paddle on Lake Wakatipu at 8.00am on Saturday.

“There were a few capsizes but the Wakatipu Coastguard did an excellent job getting everyone back in the race again,” says Hunt.

The eight hour race involved paddling, trekking and biking and was won by Mike Kelly from Queenstown in 4hours 09 mins ahead of Aaron Scott of Christchurch in 4 hours 22mins.

Have you heard of Southern Traverse Ltd?

If you are into extreme sports possibly, if you’re into adventure sports racing probably, but if not then Southern Traverse is a premier international Sport Event Management company which operates and manages elite events around the world including the Adventure Racing World Championship, the AR World Series and New Zealand’s iconic adventure race, the Macpac Southern Traverse – these are all extreme races which will test the skills of the competitors to the very limit.

This weekend (14th – 16th November) two extreme challenges will be held in New Zealand: The Macpac 24 Hours Of Southern Traverse and the 8-hour Adventure Challenge. The Macpac 24 will incorporate run/trekking, kayaking and mountain biking and the area of Lake Wakatipu and the Glenorchy region will be the backdrop for this challenging race.

Glenorchy Lagoon looking toward Lake Wakatipu

Glenorchy is an area of spectacular scenery at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand’s South Island. It is only about 45kms from Queenstown. It is famed for its many ‘tramping’ tracks. The local scenery received worldwide attention when it was used as one of the settings for the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’.

Director of Southern Traverse, Geoff Hunt, says that, as is traditional with their courses, no-one will know the route until the midnight start on Friday, “but I can promise competitors some very different terrain and they will be going places they haven’t been before. The overriding thing they will remember about the course is the bush. all the treks are centred round bush rather than open tussock land but there is some spectacular scenery on the way,” he added.

Hunt expects the fastest teams to cross the finish in 14 hours and the slowest in around 20.

The competition is open to teams of two or four persons. The two person catagory can be a mixed team, or single sex. The 4 person team MUST have at least one woman, and each team must have a support crew. It is recommended that team members have first aid certificates and that competitors must know how to swim and have a Grade 2 kayak certificate… The race will cover approximately 150 kilometres and will continue day and night.

A new fun 8 hour race for first timers, individuals and teams, (women and men), will be run on the Saturday 15 November, in conjunction with the Macpac 24hrs of Southern Traverse. This is a new challenge and is an attempt to persuade athletes who traditionally compete in shorter events to test themselves on a longer course. As Hunt says, “the eight hour challenge is also part of our bid to expand adventure sport racing. It is really an off-road Peak to Peak and makes the event more accessible to a wider group of people. We expect it will grow in popularity particularly amongst multi-sporters and triathletes because of the soft introduction it offers to the disciplines of adventure racing.”

Entries for the 8 Hour Challenge will be accepted on Friday 14th November at Queenstown Event Center between 6 – 8 o’clock… so get your running shoes on if you’re interested! The entry to the Macpac 24 is already closed. Prize giving will be on Sunday, 16th November.