Godzone Adventure Race
GODZone an Adventure Like No Other
Dana Clark / 01.04.2016
Dana Clark is following Team YogaSlackers at GODZone Adventure and listened at the team breifing to hear what Race Director Warren Bates had to say. Here's a quick summary with some hints about the early stages of the race.
71 teams are getting ready to embark on GODZone Chapter 5 from Kaiteriteri, NZ, at the top of the South Island.
They'll be racing approximately 530 kms through the Tasman wilderness on an "Adventure Like No Other" as GODZone is billed. There's a world class mountain bike park sitting directly behind us here at Kaiteriteri and 3 National Parks nearby.
There are 2 cutoffs, 1 dark zone, and interesting weather for the first 24 hours with rain tonight that should be clearing as the week progresses. With the rain tonight the rivers will be up. In these rivers there are log jams and strainers and trees in mid-flow, not just on the sides. In farming land there may be old fences and wires in the water - good to know for those inflatable boats! There are class II rapids and possibly even class III, but all rapids are portageable.
The first trek, we were told, is bouldery and loose -- and there will be a lot of travel over this type of terrain. The third trek will be incredibly difficult when it comes to nighttime route finding. And both of these treks involve very sharp rocks. It's estimated that only 50-55% of the teams will finish.
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