Arrow 24hours Adventure Series - Canterbury
Team L. E. Draughting win by two minutes
Stan van Jaarsveld / 23.08.2007
The race began on the Northeastern edge of the city, with a run/rogaine from Waimairi Beach into Bottle Lake Forest and finished at the Pleasant Point Yacht Club - a 25km loop in total. Teams searched for two controls on opposite sides of the forest. Team. L. E. Draughting - Robert Loveridge and Nathan Peterson - ran hard to carve out a 15 minute lead, completing the leg in 1 hour 58 minutes.
From Transition One teams kayaked down the Avon River, across the estuary and up the Heathcote River to Opawa before switching kayaks for mountain bikes. Teams’ legs ached as they powered up the Port Hill’s Rapaki Track, across Summit Road, then down Kennedys Track to finish at Taitapu.
Maintaining their lead, Team L. E. Draughting were being chased hard by Team R&R Sport Pirates - Luke Chapman, Tiffany Farnsworth, Brent Stuart and Tony Popenhangen - who were only 30 minutes down at TA 3. The warm clear weather and incoming tide benefited most teams as they raced through the night.
Leg 4 was a kayak down the Halswell River, new territory for most of the local competitors. The small river wriggles it’s way from Taitapu all the way the Lake Ellesmere. To the surprise of many teams negotiating their way down the tranquil river, sleeping swans quickly became aggressive swans on the offensive. Fortunately no animals or competitors were harmed during this section.
Teams then cycled the Rail Trail to the Kaituna Valley where they exchanged their bikes for tramping shoes and made their way over the Packhorse Track, Mt Bradley, Mt Herbert and finally finished the race at Godley House Café in Diamond Harbour. For the lead teams the final two legs would not be the easiest. Race leaders L. E. Draughting, lost 20 minutes when a control flag went missing. They again lost time and also the lead while traversing from the Packhorse Track to Mt Bradley through thick scrub. Team R & R Sport Pirates noticing L. E. Draughting were lost, hid in the bush hoping they would sneak away, however to their disappointment they were spotted and chased down by the faster two-man team.
Team L. E. Draughting won the race in 10 hours and 36 minutes - just two minutes clear of Team R & R Sport Pirates. The gale force winds never arrived to the relief of organisers, racers and crew. Team Forever Young showed the most endurance completing the course in 18 hours. The series now moves to Wellington followed by the final event in the series to be held in Otago during November.
The 2007 Arrow Series consists of four events across NZ, with the following races to come:
Wellington September 22-23
Otago November 3-4
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