Entries Flood in for the 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship

08.03.2005

There has already been a big international entry for the Adventure Racing World Championship race to be held on the West Coast of the Southern Alps in New Zealand from November 11- 19th.

Entries for the race opened on February 1st and more than 50 teams have already registered their interest. The deadline for registration is the end of March and teams will be notified of their selection on April 15th.

This means any team with aspirations to race in the Adventure Racing World Championship 2005 must complete the online registration before the end of March to ensure they are included in the selection process.

“The response has been huge,” says ARWorld Series Director Geoff Hunt. “We thought there would be a lot of interest but you’re never quite sure till it happens.“

Around 65 per cent of the teams entered are international, representing a wide range of countries. “They are coming from all over. Of the three world championship events the New Zealand one will have the best representation by far. We are definitely attracting all the world’s top adventure racing and endurance athletes.”

Teams entered so far come from Canada, United States, Australia, Great Britain, Poland, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, Holland, Chile, South Africa, Spain and New Zealand.

Hunt says teams like Nike ACG/Balance Bar (USA), which won the World Championship in Newfoundland last year will be formidable. Cross Sportswear from Finland which was runner-up, just 20 seconds behind Nike, will also be after revenge in New Zealand.

New Zealand will field the all-powerful Seagate team made up of Nathan Fa’vae, Richard Ussher & Kristina Anglem, who both recently won the 2005 Coast to Coast, and George Christison. Christison was a key member of Team Kathmandu which won the 2004 Southern Traverse, also held on the West Coast.

Another strong Kiwi assault will come from Merrell which includes veteran racers Jeff Mitchell, Neil Jones and Ian Edmond. American Robyn Bennicasa will captain the team. A Queenstown team includes top racers Haydn Key and Bas Smith who are joining forces with the husband and wife partnership of Wendy and Willie Roberts.

Go-Lite Timberland, which was runner up in last year’s Southern Traverse will be a team to watch along with the crack Swedish team Lunhags Adventure. Five Swedish teams have entered the World Championship and the Finnish team Nokia which won the Explore Sweden race held as part of the ARWorld Series will be a strong challenger.