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Competitors Looking Forward To Challenging Course

Southern Traverse / 09.11.2003

There was a mixed reaction from Southern Traverse competitors in Dunedin today (Sunday) when the course was unveiled by Race Director Geoff Hunt. Renowned for his ability to build challenging and often unexpected courses, Hunt revealed the 411km course will cover some of Otago\'s most spectacular terrain.

The Southern Traverse is the largest adventure race in the Southern Hemisphere. Starting at Dunedin\'s Octagon tomorrow morning (Monday) at 8.30am, competitors will run through the streets of Dunedin to Otago Harbour from where they will kayak to Aromoana. Leaving kayaks behind they will embark on the new discipline of coasteering. They are expected to encounter seals, penguins, treacherous rocks and strong seas along the way.

A long trek through the Silver Peaks regions leads to an extremely tough mountain biking section including Mount Allan. This is followed by another kayaking section, this time up the Taieri and Waipori rivers to Berwick Forest.

Another mountain biking section leads to a massive 19-30 hour trek in the remote Lammerlaws region. Hunt describes this section as the most tactical in the race and could make or break a team\'s success.

The long journey home is a paddle on Lake Mahinerangi before a trek through Waipori Forest and mountain bike back through Berwick Forest. Then it\'s back in the kayaks again on the Taieri River to Lake Waihola and out to the coast. The penultimate stage is a mountain bike through coastal forest to Brighton from where the competitors will walk along the coast the finish line on St Clair beach.

Jim Cotter of local team Omni Graphics said much of the course is in their own back yard but \"there\'s a lot we don\'t know about.\" The section his team find the most daunting is the Lammerlaws where they are likely to encounter snow.

Sia Svendsen from Denmark of Team Bivouac Outdoor Zone is both excited and nervous about the next week. \"There\'s a huge amount of skilful navigation involved and the course is very varied which is great. It\'s quite challenging coming from another country but we hope to complete the whole race and gain a lot of experience at the same time.\" Team Kathmandu\'s Andy Macbeth who\'s a veteran of the Southern Traverse, believes the best navigators will win on the day.

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