NZ Adventure racing Series Hits Nelson
Michael Jacques / 02.06.2006
More than 100 endurance junkies from all ends of the country assemble in Nelson this weekend for the annual Rollo\'s Nelson Adventure Race, which this year doubles as round three of the Sportzhub.com national adventure racing series.When competitors gather at 7:00am on Saturday morning they won\'t know what lies in store for them. Adventure racing\'s unique format where teams mountain biking, kayaking, running and navigate their way non-stop over secret and challenging off-road routes has made it one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and New Zealand is the number one country.
This weekend\'s Rollo\'s race in Nelson features current world champion, Nathan Fa\'avae, who last year led his all-Kiwi Team Balance Vector to the world title. Despite having now retired from international competition Fa\'avae is racing under his Team Balance Vector banner with Nelson friends Daniel Barry, Angus Jennings and former international mountain biker Lisa Savage. They will start as favourites but will be challenged by a handful of hopefuls that include Team Stirling Images.com, which is led by well-performed Paul Chaplow, a former teammate of Lisa Savage.
Whoever comes out on top, however, it will have little impact on the Sportzhub.com National Series. Neither of these favoured teams have raced yet in this year\'s national series. Even a win in Nelson will put them only 18th in the national series, well behind leaders, Team Orien Health (Akld), who won the first two national series events at Coromandel\'s ARC Adventure Race and the Whakatane Great Outdoors Adventure Race.
At the Rollo\'s Nelson Adventure Race teams face a unique format. Traditionally adventure racing routes are kept secret until the night before the start. But in Nelson teams will only be given the route one stage at a time, so navigational skills will be an even bigger factor than normal.
Organiser Chris James has designed a course showcasing central Nelson, with several sections that while gruelling will be within sight of the city. Competitors will face seven different stages, kayaking, mountain biking and trekking twice, plus another stage of even more in-depth navigational challenges similar to orienteering.
James, whose wife Tania is racing as part of Nelson\'s Team Wing It, expects the winning team to clock in at around 14 hours. But all teams have 24 hours to reach the finish line.
