Southern Traverse
A Royal Start
Susan McKenzie / 15.11.2004
Hundreds of people showed up to send the racers on their way. Among the well-wishers were students from St Mary’s School, who were enjoying a bit of time off school to come out and support the race and the teams. In fact, the Southern Traverse is a bit of school project for them: each team has been adopted by four students for the duration of the race.
The students, dressed in uniform gray shorts for the boys and tartan skirts for the girls, made paper versions of their respective team’s national flag, and big colourful posters with the team name and the members of each team emblazoned on them. The scene was a bit like an airport arrival lounge, with students walking up and down, shouting out team names, trying to match their poster with their team.
A brass band played as the teams milled about the Hokitika clock tower, waiting for the race to start.
“This is going to be a really gnarly race,� says Billy Mattison of GoLite/Timberland. “It’s going to be really tough, especially with the weather here. I don’t think the local teams have ever even raced in good weather around here,� the Colorado river guide says with a laugh.
British racer Nicola Davies, who is racing with the Kiwi team Greymouth Top 10 Holiday Park, hung back from the pack at the start of the race.
“We’ll stay back here,� she jokes. “Then we can only move up.�
The Swedish team Lundhags Adventure also stayed away from the crowd at the start.
“It’s too crowded up there, and back here there are only two teams behind us,� says Mikael Nordstrom. “So it shouldn’t be hard to move up later.� (At the midway point of the first bike section, Lundhags Adventure would be riding a strong second place.)
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