Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race
Adventure is the Flavour at The Absolute Wilderness Race
Press Release / 08.03.2017
The 4th edition of the Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race will take place on Saturday in the Tasman and Marlborough regions. The event director and course designer is five time adventure racing world champion Nathan Fa’avae who also runs the successful Spring Challenge womens adventure race.
210-participants will be participating in the event which combines whitewater rafting, mountain biking and hiking, with a navigation component. The seventy three person teams are spread throughout three divisions, the three, six and twelve hour races, which are the projected winning times.
The teams have been told to expect a wilderness course this year, with the routes going to remote places, the six and twelve hour teams will be climbing into alpine environments.
Fa’avae says “This year I really wanted to have teams up in high mountain country, it’s very rare for a one-day adventure race for teams to spend time above the bush line for any significant time but we’ve managed to create that this year, adventure is certainly the flavour of the course”.
Fa’avae says he is pleased to provide an opportunity for people to experience adventure racing and he is especially pleased to see a good number of school teams entered. “I know through work I have done at Sport NZ that young people in the country are asking for more adventure opportunities so the fact we’ve got about a dozen school teams entered in various events if awesome. They’ll have a lot of fun out there but also be tested, teamwork is paramount”.
Teams will find out the exact course routes on the eve of the event, but they know the order of disciplines, distances and estimated times.
The three hour event is essentially the introductory version, which also includes the bulk of the school teams. They will have four stages totaling 26km. With half the three hour race being school students, this will be a fun adults versus children battle, and race organisers are picking schools teams to be getting line honours.
Six hour teams also have four stages but have 49km of terrain to traverse to reach the finish. There are some very experienced adventure racers in the six hour field but many have opted to use the race as a chance to introduce friends to the sport, so it could be some very close racing for the podium placings.
Auckland team Carnivorous River Ducks, led by Martin Peat, a seasoned navigator and experienced adventure racer, most likely will be clipping some of the checkpoints first. With teams from Wellington, Christchurch and local teams in the mix, it’ll be an exciting competition.
The twelve hour event is for the experienced racers, with a technical route of 94km, with six stages. Nelson team Kayak HQ Lou Perkins, John Hart, Jared Wadsworth. will be expected to be a leading team in the longer event, they will likely see another Nelson team Chasing Glory (Joe McIntyre, Angus Jennings, Perry Turner) throughout the day. A contender could be school team stepping up to the test, Vibrant Earth Skid Marks (Cameron Jones, Ryan Doyle, Luke Born) Youth team Sponsored by Student Loan (Ali Burrell, Katie Malthus, Elliott Kennedy) will likely be near the front of the race too. Fa’avae has briefed the 12-hour teams that the course contains advanced mountain biking and some difficult navigation in the alpine hiking stage, it may not be the fastest team on ground that wins, but the team who can navigate accurately and pick a smooth line.
Results will be online after the race.
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