Record Numbers for the Torpedo 7 Spring Challenge 10th Anniversary
Press Release / 22.09.2016
The iconic Spring Challenge women's adventure race turns 10-years-old on Saturday.
Having been staged in different locations each year throughout the South Island, this year's event will be held in Golden Bay.
This year also celebrates the event's largest ever field and has been capped at 450-teams, involving 1350 participants.
The Torpedo 7 Spring Challenge is run by world champion adventure racer Nathan Fa'avae and his wife Jodie, who said that the demand for the event was very high with approximately 600-teams vying for the 450-spaces.
"The event sold out in two days when the entries opened in April. This makes it the biggest Adventure Race in the world and the fact that it is only women is quite incredible," she said.
The event includes mountainbiking, hiking, rafting and navigation and involves teams of three women competing on one of three course options - the three, six or nine-hour events. The course is open for 20-hours with teams racing into the night. There is also a short canoe stage this year.
Nathan Fa'avae said that he replaced the more traditional kayaking with rafting.
"Kayaking is the more common adventure race water discipline but it requires more expertise," he said. "Rafting is easier and safer as we use professional guides on each raft, plus it opens up more scope for places the race can go."
The rafting stage in Golden Bay will be serviced by 75-qualified guides, each doing three trips. The rafting director is Tim Marshal from Ultimate Descents in Murchison.
The course is kept secret until Friday and teams will only have about 12 hours to digest the exact routes they'll be racing. Nathan is the course designer and said teams could expect a wilderness feel to this year's event.
"One unique aspect of Golden Bay is you don't need to venture far and you're in very remote places. I had some epic experiences checking out places for the race.
"The scenery is majestic and if the weather is fine, parts of the course have expansive views over Golden Bay. This year's events are not long in distance compared to some other races, but the navigation this year is more technical, I expect the strong navigating teams to do well this year."
The event has attracted teams from throughout the South Island and some from the North Island. The majority of teams are from Canterbury, Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough. Each team has a support crew, meaning about 2000-people are expected to attend the event.
While the race is largely focused on participation and personal challenge, it is also a legitimate sporting competition.
There are eight teams entered in the three-hour school teams event which contains some teams of 12 and 13-year olds. Also in the youth sections are six teams in the six-hour junior race.
The nine-hour event is the arena of the elites with many of New Zealand's top adventure sport athletes fielding teams.
Team El Equipo from Christchurch will be strong contenders, with ace navigators Lara Prince, Georgia Whitla and Emily Kelly.
Team Torpedo7 (Susie Wood, Anja McDonald, Eloise Fry) who have won the event previously will feature, especially on the biking stages. Team Rebel Warriors (Kym Skerman, Nic Leary, Naomi Whitehead) are experienced athletes and have a good mix of navigation skills and physical power.
The nine-hour veteran competition will be close with a number of teams of similar ability. Nelson-based Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters (Lynley Coventry, Jane Orbell, Jane Martin) will be a fast team and if they navigate well will be a favourite to win.
Team Peak Flow (Jane Lambert, Karolyn Dunn, Sally Lattimore) are strong navigators and the course will suit them. Other teams to look out for tin this division will be Super-Charged, Team Tussock and Wine Loving Cruisers.
The event sponsors are offering a prize pool of $60,000 worth of product and give aways.
Course information will be loaded to the event website on Friday.
www.springchallenge.co.nz
