Patagonian Expedition Race
Godzone Adventure Talk About Their 6th PER Win
Rob Howard / 26.02.2016
The day after they finished I spoke to the Godzone Adventure Team at their hostel in Puerto Natales.
The team have now won the last 6 Patagonian Adventure Races (under different team names/line-ups), and the last 4 times they’ve been captained by Nick Gracie. They are a predominantly UK based team, but more international in their current line-up under the Godzone Adventure Race banner, an event which is organised by long-standing team member Warren Bates in New Zealand.
For this race Bates and Gracie were joined by Jari Hiatt of the USA and British racer Chris Hope, and as it was Hope’s first PER I asked for his opinion on the race first.
“I thought the mountain stages were amazing but for me the mountain biking wasn’t so interesting, though I realise it made the coast to coast journey possible. I loved how wild it was and that we were left to our own devices and to look after our own safety – we were in some serious situations out there and were lucky with the wind dropping on the highest part of the course. On the final stage we roped up and put our crampons on, and I’m glad we did. There was some serious ground on that stage – which was great! Just what I like.”
“For me the race was hard and slow. It was a new experience to move so slowly just because the terrain is so hard. You are often in dense bush and on steep ground, always getting snagged and it can be dispiriting. We only really had a sense of humour failure once, at 1am in thick bush when all we wanted to do was stop, but we couldn’t.”
“The most challenging time was approaching PC11 in horizontal snow and sleet. We were very exposed and Jari was freezing. The wind was so strong we were blown over and had to hunker down when we heard to roar of a gust coming. We had to decide if we should stop to wait out the weather, which would have been miserable, or go on with Jari feeling so cold. It was a tough call to make and just a short respite in the weather and a burst of sunshine was enough encouragement for us to push on.”
“We pretty much raced hard in the day and slept at night so it was a very different race in that respect.”
“I loved the kayaking. It’s so special to kayak next to a glacier, but the stops did break the race up, and that favoured us as it helped us get over our illness problems early in the race, allowing us to rest up.”
At this point Warren Bates chipped with a less rosy opinion on the kayaking. “It was a case of blink and you miss it. We only paddled for less than 3 hours and that’s not enough after the huge investment in kayaking equipment the race asks for ... dry suits, special knives, radios, spray skirts for boats we’ll never use again etc. It’s the nature of the beast here I know, but is still a pretty raw deal.”
“That said it’s an amazing adventure and much more expedition than race. It’s an enormous undertaking to come here. I like the fact you take the lack of sleep out of the equation. I can’t honestly remember the last time I enjoyed a World Series race as you are going so hard all the time. Here we had plenty of sleep, and brought good kit to keep us comfortable. We took time out to stop and enjoy where we were, sitting down to eat and chat and enjoy the views. It was more pleasurable than a non-stop race.”
“As a race organiser myself I have to say hats off to Stjepan. It takes real guts to put on a race like this and it pushed us well out of our comfort zone, which an adventure race should do.”
Nick Gracie was thinking about the novice teams who’d come to Patagonia to try their luck and said, “It’s not just about the race. Being here is the end of a long journey for them with years of training, preparing and learning and it’s all beneficial. That said I would love to see a short course of some kind though so teams can continue and reach their own finish line.”
“For me this race has been the easiest I’ve done out here. The treks were long, but not on the epic scale they’ve been in the past. Here we had one night out, but in the past treks went on 3 or 4 days. I think Stjepan tried to vary the terrain starting in the East and it was interesting to see the terrain change as we moved West, but the scenery was better at the end. That’s the Patagonia teams come to see.”
“Some things were different about this race. It’s the first time we’ve ever come into a town on the course, so we could get some food and stock up. It’s the first time I’ve used crampons as well. That last trek was challenging, but it was waymarked, and again that’s been a first with the way marking on the ride and trek – we’ve been left to ourselves completely in the past.” (Ed. It was also the first time the race had used a PC more than once during a race, with the finish doubling up as PC9.)
“I like the people they get on the race here, the interns, staff and volunteers have a great attitude, and in the end I liked the fact we stopped at PC12 for a full day. At first I was disappointed not to be kayaking and thought we’d be sitting around, but it was good to chill out in such an amazing place – it did the soul good I think. Otherwise we’d have finished a day earlier and I’d have spent the day on my laptop!”
“I just like it down here. Maybe I’ll come back and do one more ... “
(Ed. Jari Hiatt wasn't around when I did the interview.)
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