Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race
Yealands Win Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race
Press Release / 23.02.2018
115-teams started the 5th edition of the Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race in Reefton on Friday night, with an orienteering stage around Rosstown and Inangahua river. The 3km navigation test which took between 15-30 minutes, seeded teams for the main event on Saturday, starting at McVicars and rafting 11km to McCallums Flat on the Upper Grey River, through Gentle Annie Gorge.
Yealands won …
The first wave of teams departed at 6:30am and the second wave at 9:30am, the 12-hour and 6-hour categories. By mid morning the weather was raining hard with thunder and lightning storms creating a dramatic setting as teams rafted the gorge. Whilst the race directors expected the event day to experience rain, it arrived earlier and more severe than anticipated.
“The rain was very heavy and we knew it was going to create problems as the race went on, event staff were ready to go to contingency plans but we had to switch to those much earlier putting the event staff under pressure to keep the race underway and manage safety” Event Director Nathan Fa’avae said.
The first wave of teams got through the first hiking stage but the second wave were impeded by swollen rivers.
“Safety is paramount in the event and we’d briefed the participants prior to the race that bad weather was imminent. We’d asked they don’t take risks crossing flooded streams and to wait for staff to help. Thankfully they did and we were able to move about 150-people safely across Brown Stream near Ikamatua, using a tractor and two helicopters. It was excellent work by race staff, the farmer and the pilots” he explains.
The long course race which saw teams traverse the Allan Water to the Ahaura River made their way through before the flooding became an issue, but the pack rafting stage was closed with only one team completing the 17km river leg, the rest of the field went directly to mountain bikes. Event safety staff also closed the mountain bike stage through Napoleon Hill and Nobles because the Waipuna River was uncrossable.
Fa’avae added “The Reefton SAR team and our event staff, with the support of locals were all working extremely hard under immense pressure, we believed we could keep the event running in atrocious conditions provided we could manage the safety. It was a massive team effort. I was really proud of the teams who also made sensible safety decisions on course”.
From the 96-teams that started 94-teams finished the amended courses. Only 2-teams withdrew from the race. There were no serious injuries.
The 3-hour race was postponed until Sunday 8:00am.
“The 3-hour race is the beginners and we have a lot of youth in that division. I didn’t want to put them out on course with epic conditions, we knew Sunday was going to be a beautiful day so we held that race back, it was the right move and as it turned out, the rafting team were stranded for a few hours unable to cross the Upper Brown river” he says.
Because of the weather and course changes, the 6 and 12-hour events results were invalid. It was a day of course changes and re-routing due to safety and many teams were either stranded, or stopped to aid other teams. A special mention goes to Team Yealands Family wines, an elite team who forfeited their race, spending 30-minutes helping some less experienced teams cross streams.
The 3-hour race ran smoothly in ideal conditions. It was dominated by the young school teams who took the top spots. It was pleasing for the event to see the enthusiasm and abilities of the young teams emerging in the sport.
Result of 3-hour
School Mixed
1st It’s All On Tyler
2nd 3 Sparkles
3rd Team Motueka Jnr
Open Mixed
1st Candyfloss
2nd Cow Creek Clan
3rd Agony On Da Feet
Vet Mixed
1st Not To Sure
2nd Team Tracey
3rd Peasoupers
SleepMonsters
