Duncan Hamilton has been waiting for this year’s Southern Traverse for almost a decade. The Hokitika plumber has been one of New 
Zealand’s best adventure racers for almost as long; and although he’s won numerous titles in prestigious events such as the Speights Coast to Coast, he has never taken overall honors in New Zealand’s toughest endurance race. (He did finish second, in 2002, left). But this year, the Southern Traverse ventures into Hamilton’s very own backyard.
Zealand’s best adventure racers for almost as long; and although he’s won numerous titles in prestigious events such as the Speights Coast to Coast, he has never taken overall honors in New Zealand’s toughest endurance race. (He did finish second, in 2002, left). But this year, the Southern Traverse ventures into Hamilton’s very own backyard.
Duncan Hamilton and his younger brother, Hamish, have been winning races for more than a decade, but they have been bush-bashing around the West Coast high country for almost 30 years; and when the Southern Traverse adventure race lines up next week, no one will be better prepared than their Team Kathmandu. Teaming up with Coast to Coast champions George Christison and Kate Callaghan, the Hamiltons are in the enviable position of having both firepower and course knowledge. Their team is as good as any in the race, but no one in the race knows the West Coast region like they do.
Adventure races are meant to be grueling weeklong affairs during which teams run, mountain bike and kayak their way over secret courses. The West Coast terrain is nothing if not grueling, but in a community like the West Coast, where everyone knows everyone and local talent is supported to the max…well, let’s say that Hamilton’s Team Kathmandu has a few ideas about where they might be headed.
“No one knows the course except race organiser Geoff Hunt,” says Duncan Hamilton. “But we’ve heard down the pipeline that he’s been seen here and seen there. We don’t know where the course will go, of course, but we have an idea about the areas it will go into. And over the years we’ve been just about everywhere in this area, so we don’t think there will be too many surprises for us.”
One thing that the Hamiltons do know about the course is that there will definitely be snow, and lots of it. “We’ve been up in the back country checking out areas we think the race will go, and there is a hell of a lot of snow still up there,” Hamilton says. “It will melt off a bit before the race, but it’s going to be a major factor.”
On one recent reconnaissance the Hamiltons experienced firsthand just how much of a factor the snow could become. Hamilton recalls the scene: “We were up in the back country and at the end of a valley we were faced with two options: either wade up a river in knee-deep water for an hour or wade through waist-deep snow for an hour. The river was pretty much zero degrees, so we took the snow. We’d only worn running shoes, so after an hour of this we couldn’t feel our feet. You’re taking a step and then pulling your leg over the snow for the next step and at one point Hamish lost his shoe. But his feet were so frozen and numb he didn’t actually realize for 30 or 40 meters, and we had to go back to try and find it somewhere under the snow.”
Incredibly, the Hamiltons hope that this is exactly the kind of thing Geoff Hunt has in store for the 120 competitors set to start Monday for this year’s 450km of sleep deprivation. The infamous West Coast weather could play a crucial part in the race. “For the last five years, November has been pretty good on the Coast,” says Hamilton. “But the patterns right now are really unsettled, almost like an El Nino effect.”
And although Team Kathmandu is one of the strongest all-round teams in the race, Hamilton is hoping for lots of footslogging. “If you look at the background of our team, we’re all runners, really. So we’re hoping there is lots of hard trekking.”
Indeed, the Hamiltons have both been amongst the fastest runners at the Coast to Coast in the last decade, while teammate George Christison proved himself to be the fastest runner when he made a race-winning move on the run section of this year’s Coast to Coast. Kate Callaghan is also a past Coast to Coast winner, and Hamilton sees the two tough North Islanders (right) as the perfect complement to their local knowledge.
“Kate is just as tough as they come,” Hamilton says in a simple but firm sentence. Of Christison, he has this to say: “George is tailor-made for adventure racing. He’s probably the fastest in the race, but he’s almost certainly the strongest. When we first raced with him in the 1998 Southern Traverse, he got nicknamed ‘Bulldozer.’ It was on a horrendously long uphill trek and George was carrying his pack and someone else’s and he was 400m ahead of us and Hayden Key commented, ‘Does he push-start bulldozers for a living?’”
Christison, however, will start the race with a fractured wrist and rib after a hard week in Borneo’s Outdoor Quest. Renowned for his determination, the man himself isn’t too worried: “I got through Borneo, so I should get through another race,” he said. “When I got home the doctor wanted to put the wrist in a cast, but I wasn’t too keen on that with a race coming up. If it’s going to give me strife, it will be on the downhill mountain bike sections. But it shouldn’t affect how we race.”
With such a strong team on top of their enviable course knowledge, it’s not surprising that Duncan Hamilton’s biggest concern is that the course isn’t too easy. “Navigationally, the West Coast isn’t a hard place to find your way around because the region is so long and narrow, so we hope he makes up for this with some tough terrain
and lots of route options,” says the Kathmandu captain, referring subtly to the slightly easier Southern Traverse events of the last few years.
Perhaps the biggest concern the Kathmandu crew have, however, is making sure that they don’t come out of this race with egg on their faces.
“We know we have a home-course advantage, but one thing we’ve learnt over the years is that anything can happen in adventure races,” Hamilton notes.
Asked what that means, the Kathmandu captain says quietly, “To win a race like the Southern Traverse, the first thing you have to do is make sure you finish!"
Adventure races are meant to be grueling weeklong affairs during which teams run, mountain bike and kayak their way over secret courses. The West Coast terrain is nothing if not grueling, but in a community like the West Coast, where everyone knows everyone and local talent is supported to the max…well, let’s say that Hamilton’s Team Kathmandu has a few ideas about where they might be headed.
“No one knows the course except race organiser Geoff Hunt,” says Duncan Hamilton. “But we’ve heard down the pipeline that he’s been seen here and seen there. We don’t know where the course will go, of course, but we have an idea about the areas it will go into. And over the years we’ve been just about everywhere in this area, so we don’t think there will be too many surprises for us.”One thing that the Hamiltons do know about the course is that there will definitely be snow, and lots of it. “We’ve been up in the back country checking out areas we think the race will go, and there is a hell of a lot of snow still up there,” Hamilton says. “It will melt off a bit before the race, but it’s going to be a major factor.”
On one recent reconnaissance the Hamiltons experienced firsthand just how much of a factor the snow could become. Hamilton recalls the scene: “We were up in the back country and at the end of a valley we were faced with two options: either wade up a river in knee-deep water for an hour or wade through waist-deep snow for an hour. The river was pretty much zero degrees, so we took the snow. We’d only worn running shoes, so after an hour of this we couldn’t feel our feet. You’re taking a step and then pulling your leg over the snow for the next step and at one point Hamish lost his shoe. But his feet were so frozen and numb he didn’t actually realize for 30 or 40 meters, and we had to go back to try and find it somewhere under the snow.”
Incredibly, the Hamiltons hope that this is exactly the kind of thing Geoff Hunt has in store for the 120 competitors set to start Monday for this year’s 450km of sleep deprivation. The infamous West Coast weather could play a crucial part in the race. “For the last five years, November has been pretty good on the Coast,” says Hamilton. “But the patterns right now are really unsettled, almost like an El Nino effect.”
And although Team Kathmandu is one of the strongest all-round teams in the race, Hamilton is hoping for lots of footslogging. “If you look at the background of our team, we’re all runners, really. So we’re hoping there is lots of hard trekking.”
Indeed, the Hamiltons have both been amongst the fastest runners at the Coast to Coast in the last decade, while teammate George Christison proved himself to be the fastest runner when he made a race-winning move on the run section of this year’s Coast to Coast. Kate Callaghan is also a past Coast to Coast winner, and Hamilton sees the two tough North Islanders (right) as the perfect complement to their local knowledge.“Kate is just as tough as they come,” Hamilton says in a simple but firm sentence. Of Christison, he has this to say: “George is tailor-made for adventure racing. He’s probably the fastest in the race, but he’s almost certainly the strongest. When we first raced with him in the 1998 Southern Traverse, he got nicknamed ‘Bulldozer.’ It was on a horrendously long uphill trek and George was carrying his pack and someone else’s and he was 400m ahead of us and Hayden Key commented, ‘Does he push-start bulldozers for a living?’”
Christison, however, will start the race with a fractured wrist and rib after a hard week in Borneo’s Outdoor Quest. Renowned for his determination, the man himself isn’t too worried: “I got through Borneo, so I should get through another race,” he said. “When I got home the doctor wanted to put the wrist in a cast, but I wasn’t too keen on that with a race coming up. If it’s going to give me strife, it will be on the downhill mountain bike sections. But it shouldn’t affect how we race.”
With such a strong team on top of their enviable course knowledge, it’s not surprising that Duncan Hamilton’s biggest concern is that the course isn’t too easy. “Navigationally, the West Coast isn’t a hard place to find your way around because the region is so long and narrow, so we hope he makes up for this with some tough terrain
and lots of route options,” says the Kathmandu captain, referring subtly to the slightly easier Southern Traverse events of the last few years.Perhaps the biggest concern the Kathmandu crew have, however, is making sure that they don’t come out of this race with egg on their faces.
“We know we have a home-course advantage, but one thing we’ve learnt over the years is that anything can happen in adventure races,” Hamilton notes.
Asked what that means, the Kathmandu captain says quietly, “To win a race like the Southern Traverse, the first thing you have to do is make sure you finish!"
(Defending champions Icebreaker Bridgedale, left, are back and look to be tough competition for Kathmandu.)