Southern Traverse
Southern Traverse underway
Claire Hathaway / 17.11.2002
The first stage of the race began in the centre of Blenheim on the Taylor River where the 45 competitors set off on a 31km kayak to Cloudy Bay.
As the race was about to begin there was a mad dash to the bushes as the competitors made their last toilet stop for a while.
Paddles were clashing as teams jostled for a front position, but it turned into a more orderly procession further back in the field.
Outward Bound had a strong start due to their placing at the front of the field for the start of the race, but at 9.30am the three leading teams were Sportzhub.com (NZ), Land Rover(UK), and Southern Flyers (NZ).
Race director Geoff Hunt says it was amazing watching the start.
“There was a flash of paddles and then they were gone!�
He says the weather conditions are ideal for the race today.
“They’ll have a perfect day for it - I just want to go and see some of the action.�
The competitors shared a general feeling of excited anticipation.
World renowned adventure racer Ranulph Fiennes, of Team Land Rover, said he was looking forward to the race and wanted to get started.
One of the two teams from Singapore, Endorphine Junkies, were a little less confident.
Team captain Ken Koh said as the race was about to start: “I’m very nervous now.�
The first kayak stage is estimated to take the leading teams just under 4 hours.
Teams will then set out on a 35km trek up Mt Robertson and Mt LL Dukeshead, which is expected to take the faster teams about nine hours.
Local team www.ing.com were feeling confident about the course due to their local knowledge, said team member Marion Horsefield.
“We’re pretty excited, we’ve covered a lot of the ground before and have been training together for the last two years�, she said.
However, she said they were surprised when they found out how long the stages are.
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