Southern Traverse
A Rainy Southern Traverse in Sight
Susan McKenzie / 13.11.2004
It’s been raining off an on all day and now, as the team’s race course briefing wraps up, the hard rat-a-tat-tat of the rain bounces off the roof and draws many eyes upward.
“If you have any more questions, feel free to come and ask me now. That rain sounds hard, so I’m not in any hurry to get out of here,� says Race Drector Geoff Hunt.
Canadians call Vancouver a “rainy city,� with its average rainfall of 1117 mm (44 inches). In the U.S.A., Seattle, Washington is known as “The Wet Coast� (1000 mm), and in Europe, Ireland’s famous green hills are reportedly the result of its “rainy climate� (Dublin gets around 1200 mm a year).
Hokitika, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, has an average 2940 mm of rainfall a year, much of it falling in the spring months of September through November. (Nearby Franz Josef Glacier receives more than 5500mm, by the way.)
Take that Seattle.
In your eye, Dublin.
This year’s Southern Traverse will be a very wet race.
Though Southern Traverse has been described in the past as a “trekking race linked by paddling and biking sections,� it also has a reputation for challenging navigation and difficult terrain. This 14th edition is no different. Total elevation over the course is about 16,000 feet and since the race begins at sea level, it’s true elevation.
One section of the course is so difficult that Race Director Geoff Hunt has actually flagged the route, a Southern Traverse first. “We went through it three times, and finally realised it was too hard to find the route, so we decided to flag it.�
Marked or unmarked trails notwithstanding, racers will often have to wade through shoulder-high gorse, a bright yellow noxious weed with razor-sharp edges. Even the best gaiters will provide little protection for sensitive flesh (though 2-litre soft drink bottles and duct tape have been suggested as possible armour against the gorse.) There’s another section that Hunt calls “monkey scrub.�
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