Battling it Out in Godzone

Whilst many of our members were up north in Auckland racing inthe National Champs over the Easter weekend another group was atthe other end of the country preparing themselves for the GodzoneAdventure Race – four to seven days of trekking, kayaking, andmountain biking across the mountainous area around Queenstown.The course covers a total distance of over 500km with a height gainand loss of 12,000m. The latter is equivalent to a return trip to thesummit of Everest from sea level plus an ascent and descent of MtCook!
Chris Forne is in Team Seagate who are the favourites to win havingwon the opening round of this year’s World Adventure Racing Series inPatagonia. (Chris described that race as “a bit of a sprint”. It was only3 days !)
Team Subway, although not containing any PAPO members, willprovide keen competition having Richard and Elina Usher, the 2012Coast to Coast Longest Day individual winners, as key members.
Tim Farrent and Elisha Nutall, current Australian Rogaine Champions,Emily Wall, and Rob Munroe all club members make up The Go Team.
Club member and rogaine organiser Ian Edmonds, who was a memberof the 3rd placed WAR Championship team in 2008 and is a formerCoast to Coast winner, is in Team One Square Meal along with formerclub member Sia Svendson who is also an experienced adventureracer.
Team 215 - the combined ages of the team - has Steve John as thePAPO rep. Local rogainers Guy and Emma de Lacey and Mike Charlesare the other team members. Guy has the “privilege” of being theoldest competitor in the race.
At the time of writing (10 p.m. on Monday) Teams Seagate andSubway had been battling it out for the lead from the Start thismorning but the satellite tracking is showing that Team Subwayappear to have gone off course. Or have they taken a cunning route?
If you want to follow the action go to:
http://live.godzoneadventure.com/
Looks like being a fascinating tussle between the 30 or so teams withsome bad weather predicted for the next day or so.
GO PAPO !