Southern Traverse
Coasteering a Success
Victoria Warman / 10.11.2003
The 16km section of the course saw competitors scrambling over rocks, interacting with seals and walking the long sandy stretches of the North Otago coastline.
Scott Berk of Team Nomad from the USA said it was the best thing he's ever done in his 20 years of adventure racing. "We climbed up and down cliffs, jumped in the sea, swam with seals and the whole setting was spectacular. It's so different to anything else we've ever done before."
Race director, Geoff Hunt, was also delighted with the first day's competition. "We've had stunning weather and the teams are really excited about the coasteering. The photographers and camera crews all say they've got stunning footage with seals dancing round the teams."
At the time of going to press, Team Omnigraphics from Queenstown and Dunedin were leading over Team Southern Land Rover (Queenstown/Wanaka) despite team member Rachel Barton suffering a suspected broken finger after falling on the slippery rocks.
The front five teams are all moving very quickly and confidently and include all the favourites as identified by Hunt. "There are no surprises yet," he said. "But it's early days."
Further back in the field Team Bask from Russia made a dramatic recovery after a disappointing result in Stage 1 Kayaking. During the coasteering section they moved up the field from 25th to 9th.
During the evening and early night the teams will trek through the Silver Peaks area negotiating dense bush and exposed ridge lines. Later they will reach another transition zone and pick up their mountain bikes before embarking on a testing 80km ride through steep terrain in the dark.
For continuous updates on team progress use the link on the right to access the race web site.
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