GODzone Adventure - Chapter 4

A Family Gathering

Rob Howard / 02.03.2015

It was a busy morning in the Bates household today!

Nan and Grandad were there looking after the 3 girls while Dad was doing his Race Directors job and Mum was racing in team BNZ.  Except that this morning the house had numerous dishevelled  (and rather smelly) guests in the form of the race press corp who were there because the house was by TA5, the finish of the ride to Lake Wakatipu. And to top the morning team BNZ (and Mum) were going to arrive before the girls needed to go to school.

It was a slightly slower transition than normal for the team as Lisa Bates was greeted by 3 excited girls waving pictures they had drawn, and tried to answer their questions, while they were all surrounded by press cameras.  After a while it was time for the team to get on with things and the girls to get ready for school – though after all the excitement they didn’t want to go! The team moved  uphill into the bushes and long grass for a sleep, which was for Lisa Bates was just a short distance from her own bed!

The team, none of who have raced together before, are going well – in 8^th place and looked in good shape. Rhys Burns said the swim was “the worst thing he’d ever done in an adventure race”, and Glen Currie jokingly said, “but I loved it. It was great!”

Currie said the team were gelling well and had only made a few navigational mistakes. When I asked him about how Daniel Jones was doing in his first expedition race he just said., “He’s fine, he has good genetics.” (Daniel’s father is Neil Jones, one of NZ’s best know and successful racers.)

The team will tackle the kayak stage on the lake next, before moving on to the trek across the Garvie Mountains ... and the girls probably won’t concentrate at school.

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