Huairasinchi - The 2014 Adventure Racing World Championships

Seagate Are the Champions

Rob Howard and Anne-Marie Dunhill / 14.11.2014

Team Seagate of New Zealand crossed the finish line to win the 2014 Adventure Racing World Championships in Ecuador at 23.45 tonight. They had completed a gruelling 700km course in just over 111 hours, starting high in the Andes and finishing on the Pacific coast at the surfing resort of Mompiche.

The finish was set up in the Hotel Gabreal and the team ran through the sandy streets of the town and then through the hotel grounds to reach the finish line where an expectant crowd was waiting for them. Specially composed race music, representing Huairasinchi (the Spirit of the Wind) had been playing and as the team jogged towards the line the announcer broke in to shout, “They are here, our champions!”

Flashguns fired and photographers crowded around the team as they stood together to celebrate their win, clutching the silver fern flag.  The team of Nathan Fa’avae, Sophie Hart, Chris Forne and Stuart Lynch are now the most successful in adventure racing history, Hart having won two ARWC titles and the others three.

Sophie Hart said the 14 hour Amazon jungle trek at the end of the race was the hardest part of the course as it was very physically taxing, and when asked what she planned to do next she said, “Get a burger and beer”.  Asked about her role as the woman on the team and whether she was a sporting role model for other women she shied away from answering, just saying adventure racing had always been 3 guys and a girl.

However she did add that it was important to race in a supportive environment. “You need to be racing with 3 friends,” she said, “not just 3 people who need a female team mate.” She went on to say; “It is important not to underestimate yourself. If you go out and do things you can be surprised at what you can achieve.”

Asked about other experiences on the race she said she was actually glad of the rain as she’d been dreading the heat and the team had been excited to see a wild cat in the forest.

Team captain Nathan Fa’avae said, “As a team we’ve been focusing on our racing and are not aware where the other teams are, though I suspect they are not too far back.”

Talking about their race strategy he said, “Chris was sick on the first two days so we took a lot of our sleep earlier in the race and it was really about getting him well again to begin with. We also paid a high price for the bushwhacking at the end of the third stage, which most teams were penalised for not doing. That was really physically tough and set us back so I don’t think the penalty really gave us any advantage, especially as we were then racing against teams who’d had more rest.”

He said he’d really suffered from the cold in this race and he too found the final trek through the deep mud in the Amazon forest the hardest part of the race.  He didn’t say anything about the team’s plan for the future, just reflected that they’d had an excellent year, regaining their No.1 World Ranking and the World Title.

He posed for photos on the finish line with his three children and the whole family will be in Ecuador for 8 weeks in total so they will have plenty of time to enjoy this amazing country and Seagate’s impressive win at ARWC2014.

You can follow the race live online at  http://live.huairasinchi.com/

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