GODzone and the AR World Series Part Company
Rob Howard / 02.03.2017
For the past week it’s been like watching a couple you know well having a major argument, not speaking to each other, cold shoulders all round and a frosty atmosphere.
Godzone, the first AR World Series event of the year (or so we thought) has not been mentioned at all on any World Series media and the ARWS logos and flags have been mysteriously absent from the Godzone course and website branding. When Tiki Tour took their amazing win there was no mention of them winning a free place at the World Champs in the U.S.A.
Now we know there will be no kissing and making up after this particular argument as the World Series has made a brief statement that Godzone has left the series.
This qualifies as a very messy divorce, with consequences for the wider adventure racing family, and leaves a few unanswered questions.
The ARWS statement says: “As the remaining teams finish the New Zealand stop of the ARWS, with regret we are announcing that the Godzone Race Director informed the ARWS an hour after the race start that the Godzone Adventure race were withdrawing from the ARWS. Although the withdraw and its timing will cause concerns as to whether or not the race was an ARWS sanctioned race, the ARWS remains committed to its race teams and will honour the placing and rankings of the teams who have finished the New Zealand race.”
It was issued by Craig Bycroft on March 2nd, and had the low key title of “Tiki Tour Win in New Zealand”. Godzone have made no comment at all yet (SleepMonsters asked them what was going on well before ARWS statement came out), however their race is still on-going with the last few teams on the final stage at the moment so that will be their priority.
So, what do we make of all this?
The immediate question for those taking part is answered by the statement, the ARWS will apply placings and ranking points as though Godzone were part of the series – which seems fair as those taking part thought that it was.
The majority probably won’t be bothered by this one way or the other (though some may have approached sponsors on the basis they were taking part in a World Series race).
I had read the statement to mean Tiki Tour would have their place on the ARWC start line, and their entry paid for as series winners, but they've now told me ARWS have been in touch (via email today) saying the place is theirs, but the entry fee is not covered. Godzone have not said anything to them about this, and the team, who do want to go to Wyoming, are naturally disappointed at the way things have turned out. [This paragraph is an updated edit.]
[Ed. Last edit on this piece - Godzone have responded to say; GODZone communicated to the winning team of Chapter 6, Tiki Tour, immediately after their race that the organisation would honour the spot at the ARWC. The team in tend to take this up with our full support and we look forward to following their progress. Godzone confirms it does not intend to be part of the ARWS for 2018.
We see an extremely bright future for AR and will continue to lead the sport from the front.]
The split is not good news for the ARWS as Godzone was one of highest profile and most successful races in the series, and having a series event in New Zealand is important. New Zealand and the top kiwi teams hold a significant position in adventure racing and Godzone will be a loss, but the series still has 10 races across all continents, including XPD in Australasia.
How this came about is the question? (It’s happened before with teams going to the final EcoMotion and only finding out at the end of the race that it wasn’t in the series.) Surely series races should have signed on the dotted line and paid their entry fee to the ARWS well in advance of the race start? And if the ARWS was allowing Godzone leeway they could have made their minds up alot earlier. As in most divorces they'll blame each other!
It’s not good for adventure racing. AR is too small a sport to be fragmented and though its not perfect the World Series provides a focal point and teams can aspire to a World Series race or to take part in a World Champs. The Achilles heel of the sport has always been that it’s a loose association of race organisations who naturally enough put their own self interest first, and often the races are run by alpha personalities … who don’t always play well together.
Godzone is now such a well established race and brand that it doesn’t need the World Series to fill places and will still attract a few international teams who want to go and race in New Zealand. This may well be part of their reason for withdrawing, which they’ve done temporarily (and quietly) for a period once before. There are also comments on Facebook about Godzone having some kind of ‘super series’ with Primal Quest, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens there.
The news shouldn’t take anything away from the work ARWS are doing or the success of Godzone as a marquee expedition race, but if they were going to fall out surely they could have done it with better timing and managed it in a better way?
