Southern Traverse
The Course – The Race Directors View
Rob / 16.11.2002
Here’s a very quick run through of the basics of the course, though as he said, it’s all very weather dependent.
The start is in kayaks, down river from Blenheim to the sea at Cloudy Bay and along the coast. Where teams come ashore Hunt was expecting ‘a bit of carnage in the surf – not too much, and we don’t care as you’re being washed ashore.� Stage 2 is trekking over Mount Robertson where darkness will fall and he commented, “you could well be all over the place in the dark, there’s some really wild ridge country and a few steep bluffs – it could be interesting.� He uses the word “interesting� a lot … and with menace!
Then comes Stage 3, “ a 118km bike ride that will really take teams by surprise�. Hunt thinks the leaders will take around 14 hours as it includes some brutal climbs, one of them from sea level to 1500m. After that comes a steep, single track descent through the bush, where “you’ll need to be really strong technical riders to be able to stay in the saddle.�
The it’s back onto the water for stage 4 the first journey into the Marlborough Sounds, the vast area of channels, inlets, peninsulas and islands that will be such a feature of the route. By this stage, only 2 days into the race Hunt expects the leaders to be 24 hours ahead of the back markers, and later on there are several short-course options available. The paddle will take them past the mussel farms the area is famous for and into some strong tidal races, and the support crews for the lead teams will need to careful. The leaders may take 4 hours to paddle and it’s a 3 and a half hour drive around.
Stage 5 puts them back in the saddle for another 79km and again it’s going to be tough as they ride around many headlands and ridges on the coastline of the Sounds, some of the way along the ‘Queen Charlotte Track�. One particular area Hunt described as “a vertical ice rink – it’s so slippery�. He added, “teams are going to need good headlamps�. Stage 6 is more paddling, now in the Kenepuru Sound and up the Pelorus River, and provided the weather is calm night paddling will be allowed, a first on Southern Traverse.
Stage 7is a short mountain bike trek and then come the big mountains of the Richmond Range for Stage 8. The estimate for the leaders here is 19 hours for 48kms as it’s through deep bush and complex rocky ridges, some of it at night. It could be the stage that decides many of the leading positions. Stage 9 is mountain biking over the Malvern Hills and the finish is a long 73km paddle down the Wairau River back to Blenheim, where a dark zone between 9pm and 6am may split the leaders. The winners are expected around midday on Thursday.
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