Orion Health Godzone Adventure Race

Day 3 of Godzone

Margo Berryman (Godzone) / 12.03.2013

Day three of the GODZone adventure race has seen plenty of action on the water and some drama in the high country with two competitors evacuated from the course requiring medical attention.

Team Seagate continue to lead from the front of the pack getting on to the Clutha River at Albert Town at first light 7am. They had been held there for a couple of hours because of the night zone on the river.

Team leader Nathan Fa’avae said the team were pleased to get an hour and a half sleep at the transition, the first sleep they have had in the entire race.

“ We don’t know what’s going on behind us but it was good to get that amount of sleep as I don’t expect Harraways have had any over night.”

The team paddled the 90km kayak leg along the Clutha River and Lake Dunstan in seven and half hours holding just over an hours lead position ahead of Team Harraways Oats. They have now headed into the final trek stage over the Pisa Range, and Race Director Warren Bates says the navigation is tricky on this next stage.

“ Chris Forne, their navigator, is the worlds best so I don’t expect them to have too much trouble however it is really tough up there.  Because they have paddled so fast on the river and lake today there is more daylight hours to trek through which is a good advantage.”

Back in the field, teams are still struggling to get over the Dingle Burn trekking section, which is proving to be quite a challenge for many with so many route options to take. Before day break, Team Knowledge Institute called in on their yellow tracker GPS system to request medical assistance.  Team member William Sams had a suspected knee sprain and Heliworks from Queenstown flew in to evacuate him out to Queenstown.

“ It was very disappointing for him as they are our youngest colt team and had been traveling very well. But having spoken to him, it sounds like he was sidling across a steep track and his knee blew out.”

And a second serious leg injury was reported to Race HQ for Dave Roach from Team Bridgedale Socks later in the morning. He was picked up by local landowner Russell Emmerson in his helicopter.

[Yesterday Team Thule Adventure also pulled out, though there is no word yet on why the team withdrew.]