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“Sleep when you dare, move when you can …�

Rob / 16.11.2002

That’s the motto of Southern Traverse, one of the pioneering events of adventure racing, now in it’s 12th year. It’s one of the oldest races in the world, started just 2 years after the Raid Gauloises, and is the largest race in the Southern Hemisphere. Know as New Zealand’s ‘icon adventure race’, it’s always held on South Island and attracts some of the best racers from around the world. There’s no big prize money, involved, racing around the mountains and coasts of South Island, the birth place of adventure racing, is reward enough.

The first race in 1991 had an impressive 23 teams (with 5 per team), no doubt inspired by that first Raid Gauloises, which was also held in New Zealand. Maybe the realisation of how tough the race really was caused a dip, but for the next couple of years numbers fell, down to a low of only 9 teams in 1993. The weather for the second race didn’t help; a huge storm caused the start to be moved 150kms to what should have been the start of stage 2.

Things didn’t get much easier in 1994 when parts of the course had waist deep snow and in 1995 teams ‘mutinied’ and refused to cross a high snowy pass, forcing course changes. Geoff Hunt’s course planning, the spectacular Southern Alps and the unpredictable weather were combining to create an uncompromising race which only the best teams could hope to complete. However, as adventure racing grew and more teams were able to think about taking on the race, the numbers increased and racers from abroad came to take part.

The courses remained in the Southern Alps until 1999 when Nelson, on the North West of the island was the venue. Teams of 4 were introduced this time, and in fine weather the race was the fastest ever, with the winners taking just 71 hours to cover 443 kms. This year the race is once again in the North, away from the high peaks, and Geoff Hunt will no doubt try to ensure the winning time is a bit longer.

In 2000 the race became the Discovery Channel Race in partnership with Southern Traverse and the highest ever entry of 57 teams took part and were filmed for a 4 hour documentary which was shown around the world. Despite competition from Nokia Adventure (who had Nicola Davies racing with them) and a powerful, joint US/Australian team it was the ‘Propellor Heads’ lead by Steve Gurney, who came out on top .

That kept the 100% winning record for New Zealand teams, maintained by ‘Edge Orienteering’ in 2001, and any teams with aspirations to win will know that wresting the Southern Traverse title away from the Kiwi’s is one of the toughest challenges in adventure racing. Finishing at all is challenge enough for most.

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