The Classic Southern Traverse
2008 Fairydown Southern Traverse Underway
10.04.2008
The first 20km mountain biking section took competitors through a scenic route on the Molesworth Station road to Acheron where they began a tough 35km trek in the Maukuratawhai area.
The experienced Icebreaker R & R Sport team led the way in to the first transition at 10.08 just one minute ahead of the North Island Powered by Velvet team. The two are picked to have a high profile in the event in what is being billed as a North versus South challenge.
To add to the rivalry Sarah Fairmaid in the Icebreaker R & R Sport team and Sonya Clark who is in the Powered by Velvet team are sisters.
They joked at the start that it would be more than just sisterly rivalry with the family honour at stake!
The field includes a number of experienced athletes and well known names in adventure racing circles. But this year too, a young up and coming under 23 team is competing from the Dunedin/Queenstown area, and has high hopes of achieving a good result.
One2onemultisport.co.nz is represented by Mike Walker and Dougal Allan, Mattie Graham and Emmah Ussher who have had excellent results in a number of events including the Coast to Coast and the Goldrush.
A North Island under 23 team was forced to withdraw at the eleventh hour which was disappointing for the South Island team who looked forward to the age group challenge.
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