GODzone Adventure - Chapter 4
The Generation Game
Rob Howard / 26.02.2015
Andrea and Keith Murray are among the great names of New Zealand adventure racing and multisport, with multiple Eco-Challenge and Coast to Coast wins going back to the earliest days of the sport. And they are here racing in Team 38, Breen Homes.
That would be remarkable enough in itself but their team mates are their two sons, Charlie (18), and Craig (16), who are the youngest racers in the competition. It’s very rare to see a family team in adventure racing, and this one has a unique history in the sport, and even at 18 Charlie is an experienced Godzone racer as he finished in the 4th placed team last year at Kaikoura.
“It was after last we started thinking about racing together,” Charlie said, “and we persuaded the folks to do it as a family team.”
“It really made a difference when we knew it was in Wanaka,” said Andrea Murray. The family live in Wanaka, as do so many other endurance and multisport racers.
Craig will be in his first full expedition race, but apart from getting out into the mountains with his family he is also and experienced racer. “I race a bit at school,” he said, “in the National AR Championships and we get outdoors a lot.”
To my knowledge New Zealand is the only country to have a formal schools AR championships and regular junior competitions and it shows in the depth of talent coming through. “There are a lot of good racers in their early 20’s here,” said Warren Bates, “and they are really good now. With some more experience they’ll be exceptional. There is so much talent here, and that includes a lot of young and really good female racers.”
While we were talking another young racer passed us and Bates said, “That is Daniel Jones, Neil Jones’ son who has just come back from a running scholarship in the States. He is probably fast and no doubt as tough as his old man.” If that is the case he will be another strong racer as his father has a reputation for toughness even among the greats of Kiwi racing.
Bates thinks that apart from Team Colombia Vidaraid it will be hard for any visitors to break into the top 15 and among all those highly competitive kiwi teams many will feature young racers who could go on to great success in adventure racing.
You can follow the race live coverage at http://godzoneadventure.com and right on SleepMonsters as well.
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