2006 Southern Traverse

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Fa'avae & Ussher Team Up Again

Rob Howard / 03.11.2006

The inaugural 24 Hours of Southern Traverse on November 4 and 5 will showcase New Zealand's biggest names in adventure racing featuring the combined skills of world series champions Richard Ussher and Nathan Fa'avae.

Ussher was in the winning 2006 Adventure Racing World Championship team in Sweden while he and Fa'avae competed together to win the 2005 World Championship held on the West Coast of the Southern Alps.

Racing under the banner of R & R Sport NZ they are joined in the 24 Hours of Southern Traverse by Elina Rautila of Finland, who has vast international competition experience and was second woman in the 2006 Coast to Coast, and the internationally experienced Luke Vaughan of Christchurch.

The Southern Traverse has changed its traditional format this year from a five day race to a 24 hour event based in the challenging Queenstown region.

Event director Geoff Hunt says the course which involves trekking, mountain biking and kayaking will be testing for the 20 teams competing.

"We have a combination of four and two person teams, including mixed and men's teams, and there is a lot of experience in the field. But I think even those who have plenty of local knowledge will find there are some new twists to this course. There is a strong orienteering component which will separate the field in the first stage."

While most of the teams are South Island based the Southern Traverse name has also attracted two men's teams out of Australia, a mixed person team from Brazil and Canada, and an Auckland based two men team.

Hunt says the Ussher and Fa'avae team is obviously the favourite for the event and he is predicting the winning time will be around 16 hours.See All Event Posts