Team Seagate Brazil Bound

Press Release / 05.11.2015

On November 14th Nathan Fa’avae will lead Team Seagate, New Zealand’s highest ranked expedition adventure racing team into the 2015 World Championships being held in the Pantanal region in Brazil. For Fa’avae it could well be the final time he captains the New Zealand team at the World Championships as he has signalled to the team and sponsors that 2015 will be his final year competing at professional level.

The new author has recently released his autobiography, a story of how he became a 3-time World Adventure Racing Champion, possibly 4-time champion if his next race goes to plan.

The team of Fa’avae, Stuart Lynch (Auckland), Sophie Hart & Chris Forne (Christchurch) are the defending champions having won the same event in Ecuador in 2014. The team have in fact, won two of the last three World Championship events having won in France in 2012.

Ahead of the teams departure on November 8th, Fa’avae is confident the team can repeat their victory from 2014 making them the first team in the history of adventure racing to win consecutive World Championship events, and with the recent All Blacks victory in the Rugby World Cup achieving that very prestigious achievement, Fa’avae and his team are not lacking inspiration.

“It’s been perfect timing to watch the All Blacks achieve what they have, we’re in a very similar situation. We’re the top team in the world, we’ve done the hard work, we have faith in our talents, it’s time to go and get the job done” he says.

He is not wrong when he claims to have the top team in the World. Both Forne and Lynch have 3-World Championship Caps and Hart has two herself, plus she has two World Multisport Championship titles courtesy of winning the Coast-to-Coast twice. They are also the only expedition racing team that have proven they can compete with the worlds best in the shorter, faster paced events called stage-races, having won major events in China and Malaysia.

But the team is well aware Brazil will be a new race with new outcomes, with 32-teams racing representing 17-countries the Kiwi quartet can expect some intense racing and competition, and challenges thrown up by the environment.

Fa’avae commented “I think it’s going to be a real scrap for the top five spots this year, the best teams from Sweden, South Africa, USA, Brazil and the UK will be fairly evenly matched I reckon, but I really believe we’re a level above the competition at present and I’m keen to back that up. We’ll be disappointed with anything less than a win - but if we race to our potential, learn something and enjoy ourselves, we’ll have a sense of achievement. We’re excited to race, we’re ready, our mindset is on extracting our absolute best performance, that’s what will deliver the outcome we’re after”.

The 715km route consists of 14-stages, mountain biking, kayaking and hiking, navigation is also a major component and new for this year, the sport of pack-rafting. The Pantanal region encompasses the world's largest tropical wetland area with myriads of waterways and the pack-rafts are small boats that allow teams to travel through areas littered with lakes and streams, combining hiking and paddling. 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy season.

The name "Pantanal" comes from the Portuguese word pântano, meaning wetland, bog, swamp, quagmire or marsh. The teams have been warned that some of the waterways are home to piranhas and in some sections of the course they each have to carry a pole to warn stingrays of their approach. The locals fear the fresh water stingrays more than they do the piranhas.

Fa’avae casually brushes off any fears or concerns about wildlife “I enjoy seeing animals in the wild whatever they are, we’ve been up close to very dangerous animals numerous times and I’ve never felt unsafe, they’re typically more afraid of us”. He admits the course plays to their strengths and that builds confidence. The stages and distances have been announced and there is a lot of kayaking which suits the Kiwi team well, who are regarded as the top paddling unit in the sport.

Navigation is a trump card for the team, with Forne being the most experienced and highest achieving navigator in the sport, having won the World Rogaine Championships multiple times and raced in finals at the World Orienteering Championships. Fa’avae and Lynch are no strangers to maps and compasses both having navigated teams to World Championship victories.

They Kiwi favourites enter the event as the most capped team, collectively amassing over 100-major international competitions, 11-of them World Championships, Forne has raced in every world championship since 2007, which he won in Scotland. 

The team have raced together twice this year winning the Godzone race in Wanaka with a huge margin of 23-hours. What made the victory more significant was the number one ranked team in the world, Team Columbia-Vidaraid was the second team home.

As part of their build up to Brazil the Kiwis raced in Malaysia in October winning the Ironbound Challenge.

Fa’avae quips “The world ranking system is more of an attendance award and not an accurate representation, it’s a guide only. The problem with the system is it heavily favours World Champs results and because we didn’t finish in Costa Rica 2013, due to injuries we’ve been penalised heavily”. Team Seagate are currently ranked number two in the World Rankings.

Asked if this is his retirement race and how emotive that will be, Fa’avae was prompt to respond “This won’t be my last race, but it will be my last race at this level with these goals. I’ll probably compete again, but at this stage I have no plans to. I haven’t been very motivated in the past year or so racing but I’m fired up for this World Champs. Our team is highly respected and feared - but there are teams out there that think they can beat us, good for them, I applaud them for thinking that, I welcome the challenge and contest, I love to race and the harder it is the more engaged I am, so this is right up my alley.”

Asked how important winning the race is he answered “It’ll be awesome to win, but I won’t let myself be defined by one event, I’ve had a long and successful career that I am truly proud of for a multitude of reasons, if I leave Brazil knowing I raced my heart out, and I’m not half eaten by piranhas, I’ll be satisfied”.

Questioned to life beyond 2015 he replied “I’ve got a lot going on, I want to shift focus. In 2016 we’re launching a North Island Spring Challenge Women’s Adventure Race and I want to ensure that’s successful”. He is also a major shareholder in the Nelson based freeze dried meal company Absolute Wilderness and expects to be kept busy in that space also “the company is going extremely well and we’re currently in some major expansion initiatives, we’ve got a rapidly increasing demand, in New Zealand and internationally, I need to channel energy into that venture for a while”.

Fa’avae says the team ahead of the major race of the year is “calm, relaxed but highly motivated”.

For people wishing to follow the action and possibly see Team Seagate win their fourth World Title, the event website is: www.arwcpantanal.com

Team Seagate Sponsors

Seagate, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Absolute Wilderness Freeze Dry Meals, GU Energy, Wildside Travel, inov8 footwear, Gloworm Lighting, Tineli, Em’s Power Cookies & Bars, ReadySetGo Antichafe, Reef Bars, Bowater Toyota, Nordenmark, Revelate Designs, Bridgedale Socks, Torpedo7, www.nathanfaavae.nz

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