Spring Challenge is More Popular Than Ever

Nathan Fa’avae (Spring Challenge) / 02.10.2014

The 8th Torpedo 7 Spring Challenge was held in Hokitika over the last weekend in September. The all women’s adventure race which was started by Nathan Fa’avae in 2007 has grown continuously and this year it had another record field size with 1050-women taking part.

“I think one of the reasons the event receives so much support is that every year is a new location, so people don’t get bored of the event, every year it’s a new challenge in different environments” says Fa’avae.

This years event was the first foray to the West Coast and Fa’avae warned the participants when he announced the location that spring time on the Coast is the wettest time with the highest rainfalls, he suggested teams pack their gumboots and get a decent rain jacket. His advice couldn’t  have been more spot on, after weeks of an unusual dry spell on the West Coast, the rain came for the event and produced mud and lots of it.

“Despite the poor weather it wasn’t cold and I think the amount of water and mud actually made the event even more adventurous. Had it been less rain it could have just been annoying, but because there was so much, it simply became epic and I think the teams and support crews rose to that challenge in itself, we’ve never had such positive energy at the event” he adds.

The event compromises of whitewater rafting, mountain biking and hiking, with teams navigating around the course to a series of checkpoints, using just map and compass. With three women per team, 350-teams lined up for the start, but not all at once. The event is divided into 3, 6 and 9-hour events, these are projected winning times, essentially beginner, intermediate and advanced.

“One our challenges as event organisers is catering for the different levels and abilities. The youngest competitor was 11-years old with the oldest 72-years old. We have absolute beginners to the sport where everything is new, right through to the elite female adventure racers in the world, including Sophie Hart who is a former Adventure Racing World Champion. 

For the elite women they enter the 9-hour event. This year’s event saw a number of top teams competing for the podium placings. The pre race favourite was team Seagate, captained by Hart, joined by Fleur Pawsey of Christchurch (Pawesey and Hart both Coast to Coast winners) and Susie Wood of Nelson, former Commonwealth Games cyclist and NZ triathlete.

Hart comments “Going into the race we thought the 2013 winners R&R Sport (Ingrid Richter, Eloise Fry, Sia Svensden) would be the most competitive challengers, and El Rancho (Lara Prince, Georgia Whitla, Emily Kelly)”. Unfortunately for the R&R Sport team they had a series of illness and injury impact their team with four team changes taking place right up to the event, it was a credit to them to be on the start line.

The race started with a 3km run from the Hokitika Gorge car park, upstream to the river and rafting start. The teams then boarded rafts for a 9km river trip. Typically the Hokitika Gorge is a pristine fierce aqua blue colour but after the heavy rain the river was running high and discoloured, making for a fast stage. Teams Seagate and R&R Sport were the first teams to the rafting and joined forces to create a gap over the chasing teams on the river leg. Exiting the rafts teams transitioned to mountain bikes for a 20km stage on stop bank tracks and farm roads, churning through the mud.

Seagate quickly took the lead with a quick change over to bikes, a lead that they would increase throughout the race. The weather forced a course change with one of the creeks on the 10km hiking stage unsafe to cross, the teams had an extended bike stage and shortened hiking stage.

Seagate navigated strongly through the hiking stage, Hart says “Susie was our navigator and she did really well, she took her time through the difficult bits and hit everything accurately.”

The next stage was a 50km mountain bike ride to Lake Kaniere, with a short 2km navigation stage en route. Seagate by now had approximately 10-minutes over R&R Sport. Behind them there was a battle for the third spot with El Rancho and Pure Blonde (Lisa Bates, Sarah Fairmaid, Kath Kelly).

Hart says “On the bike to the lake we didn’t feel like we were going fast, there was a head wind, we we were working well together but we thought we may have lost time”. The ride incorporated a section of the West Coast Wilderness Trail which was the highlight of the bike stage for most teams.

Seagate set off on the 12km trekking stage along Lake Kaniere starting with two difficult checkpoints to locate. Unsure of their lead they took their time finding the checkpoints then ran the trail along the lake. Once at the southern end they boarded canoes for a 10km section from Slip Bay to Hans Bay. “Once we were paddling we could see we had a good lead so we were happy, at the end of the canoe stage we were told that R&R Sport had just started the canoe which meant we had about an hour lead” Hart said.

The final stage consisted of a 20km down to the Styx River and then to Kokatahi to the finish.

Seagate crossed the line in 9-hours and 38-minutes.

“We had a smooth race, lots of fun out there, it was pleasing as last year in Queenstown we made a few mistakes and had some health issues. This year everyone felt good, we worked together well and raced much better. It was a great course for the West Coast I thought” said Hart. 

R&R Sport finished fourth place which was a solid performance given the obstacles they had to overcome getting to the start and deal with on the event day. El Rancho navigated their way into second place with Pure Blond finishing third. 

In the Veteran race the competition was no less with some close racing, mainly between Nelson teams Topzone (Vicki Shelling, Penny Sue Franklin, Jo Harris) and Smoking Turtles (Suzie LeCren, Ems Murray, Leigh Champion). Topzone had a slower rafting section and had to move their way through the field as the race unfolded. The 2012 and 2013 winners had to stay composed and work their way to the front, but got involved in a close race with the Smoking Turtles. Topzone finished very strongly in the final three stages to cross the line in 11:26:50, seven minutes ahead of second place. Third place went to Wow Women of Wanaka.

The 6-hour race did a shortened version of the 9-hour event. Instead of riding to Lake Kaniere, they diverted directly to Kokatahi.

The 3-hour race took an even more direct route to Kokatahi. All teams did the same rafting section.

The 2015 event will be held in Wanaka on September 25th-27th.

For more information see;  www.springchallenge.co.nz

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