Torpedo7 Spring Challenge North
New Zealand Adventure Racing Raises The Bar yet Again
Press Release / 04.04.2017
What happens when an estimated 2000-teams try to enter an event that has 450-places available at once, the web platform collapses.
This is what happened on April 1st at 7:00am in New Zealand when entries opened for the iconic and premiere Women’s Adventure Race, the Torpedo7 Spring Challenge. It was no April Fool’s Day prank when the enter online management company had to close entries, upgrade the system and re-open them again on April 3rd to cater for the overwhelming demand.
The event which is held annually at the end of September in the South Island, is into its 11th year and still gaining in popularity. Perhaps it’s no surprise when the Event Creator and Course Designer is 5-time Adventure Racing World Champion, Nathan Fa’avae.
He was once described by an Irish journalist as the Lionel Messi of Adventure Racing. Fa’avae is New Zealand’s most illustrious athlete having captained the New Zealand adventure racing team to 5-world championship victories, the most recent in Australia last year.
When he’s not captaining Team Seagate, he slips on his course designer hat and uses his adventure racing expertise to create opportunities for others to embark on, and has built the biggest adventure race in the world that wants to keep getting bigger.
“We can only cater for 450-teams because we provide rafts and guides for the whitewater stage. That’s 1350-women. We possibly could take a few more teams but the event has grown so big it’s become limiting on where we can host it, so we’ve decided not to grow it anymore, but rather introduce a second version in the North Island, held two-weeks after the sell out South Island version.” he says. The inaugural North Island event in 2016 hosted 530-women.
The company that manages the enter online system completely under-estimated the interest the event would generate. Event organisers knew the chance of the event selling out within minutes of entries opening and that was exactly what happened, except the platform was not set up to cater for the demand and the system collapsed, causing a melee in the New Zealand adventure racing community.
Jodie Fa’avae, the event manager commented “I think what contributed to the problem is that normally one-person from each team tries to enter the team, but this year some teams had all team members trying, basically racing each other to snatch a spot, so instead of a few hundred people trying to enter, it was a few thousand. All the signs have been there though suggesting this year was going to be the most popular to date, the interest building up to the 2017 events has been phenomenal. The system failed us this year but we’ve got a full field now, it’s time to focus on delivering a successful event. We’ll have the entry system robust for 2018 as our provider fully understands now the demand for the event is high”.
The South Island event is full with 450-teams signed up and a few hundred more on the event waiting list should any teams withdraw between now and race weekend. It is estimated the event would have 700-800 teams if entries were not limited, that’s between 2000-2500 women in an adventure race … only in New Zealand.
Fa’avae is pleased though that for all the teams that missed out on gaining a spot in the South Island edition, they have a really dynamic event planned for the North Island, in the country’s largest city, Auckland.
He has collaborated with New Zealand's most successful Olympian, Ian Ferguson, to organise what could be another world first, an adventure race based from an artificial whitewater park.
“I’ve always been keen on taking Adventure Racing to the population and the Vector Wero Whitewater Park has enabled this to become a reality. One of the key aims of the Spring Challenge has been to introduce people, obviously mainly women, to adventure racing. But even though it’s a women’s event, partners, families and children all become involved, so it reaches a large audience.
“It’s very humbling for us that the Spring Challenge has become a household name in many parts of the country, with celebrities, elite female adventure racers, through to the absolute beginners, I think that is what makes the event really special, the culture and supportive environment, everyone and anyone is welcome and encouraged” Fa’avae explains. “The racer in me also ensures the integrity of the events is not compromised, we design authentic adventure races, they’re not modified in any way to cater for women and people appreciate that, they get the real deal”.
The Auckland Torpedo7 Spring Challenge is being described as a fusion between city and wilderness. Teams have been told that they can expect to be surprised, while the rafting will be on ‘man-made’ rivers, the hiking and mountain will be in forest and rural settings. Teams will be on farmland, in dense forest and lush parks all in one day. The long course teams can also expect some coasteering at the ocean. It is certainly not an urban race in a concrete jungle, in anyway whatsoever. The event is limited to 240-teams and is rapidly filling up.
The Spring Challenge also works closely with Hillary Outdoors, New Zealand’s leading Outdoor Centre’s and developers of pathways for youth Adventure Racing. The top girls from the Hillary Challenge secondary school adventure racing championships gain free entry into the Spring Challenge.
Fa’avae also organises the Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race that takes place in autumn.
Given New Zealand’s history and achievements in Adventure Racing to date, with literally thousands of women participating in the sport and a highly developed youth programme, plus the level of teams at GODZone, their standing isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
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