From Hokitika’s main street, where local schoolchildren lined the streets to send the 26 teams from nine countries on their way, the race headed uphill into the Blue Spur Forest, where they found knee-deep mud holes and a steep, rock-ridden downhill to the Lake Kaniere water race. As Governer General Dame Silvia Cartwright started the event, locals chanted "Kathmandu, Kathmandu, Kathmandu..." in support of their heavily favored local team. But two hours into the 430km, five-day course the American team, GoLite Timberland, held a two-minute lead as they left Lake Kaniere shore and continued inland.
Behind the Americans, who are led by Kiwi Aaron Prince, came Sweden’s Team Lundhag Adventure and then race favorites Team Kathmandu. GoLite are the third-ranked team in America, the Swedes the seventh-ranked team in the world, but Kathmandu have local knowledge in their favor thanks to the Hamilton brothers Duncan and Hamish, who were born and bred on the West Coast.
The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island is legendary for three things: wild countryside, wild people and wild weather. The Hamiltons know all about all three and on the start line a few hours earlier Duncan Hamilton spoke of the weather and the high mountain treks as making the big difference in this year’s race.
Last night, on the eve of the 2004 Southern Traverse, the weather had issued its first warning. As competitors filed into Hokitika’s historic Regent Theatre, where race director Geoff Hunt would reveal the physical horrors that await them this week, the roof reverberated with the sound of heavy rain that is promised to haunt them all week.
Inside the theater, Hunt spoke of bringing the adventure back into his adventure race which, established in 1991, is the longest running expedition-type race in the world. In recent years, it's been held around major centers. But this year’s event heads back into the backcountry, promising wild, high mountain treks, some in regions that have seen only 60 people in 10 years. There is also a healthy smattering of grade 2 whitewater kayaking, which with Kiwis being the recognized world leaders in the kayak could also be a factor. But for once, an adventure race might be won on the bike.
Almost half of this year’s 430km race is on two wheels, with much of that on well-formed four-wheel-drive trails and even some sealed road to link up various areas. A strong cycling team could quite literally ride away with this race, but as the opening section from Hokitika around Lake Kaniere and across the Arahura and Big Wainihinihini river valleys came to a close, it was local knowledge that was showing through. As the race transitioned from mountain biking to mountain trekking, Kathmandu illustrated their knowledge of their home region to move from third to lead the race by six minutes. The big surprise, however, was Team Port Nelson.
Led by Richard Anderson, they had moved from sixth to share second place with defending Southern Traverse champions Bridgedale Socks, made up of Murray Thomas, Sally Fahey, Bill Godsall and Tim Pearson. Thomas is the only person to have done all 14 Southern Traverse races, and his team shares favorite status with Kathmandu. Early leaders GoLite Timberland (USA) and Lundhag (SWE) experienced navigational problems to start the trek in seventh and eighth. But with less than five hours gone in the race, only 31 minutes separated the top 14 teams.
The race is now up in the 1,400-meter high Bald Range on the northwestern edge of the Southern Alps. This leg is only 24km, but with the route a literal bush bash through the West Coast’s dense scrub, it's expected to take teams between 14 and 22 hours. With nightfall the going will get even harder—and last night snow fell to 1,000 meters, with more expected tonight. Kathmandu are considered the best trekking team in the race, and their local knowledge was evident at the start of the trek as they headed straight uphil into the bush while others chose to take a longer initial route to a track entrance.
The leading teams are expected to exit this trek somewhere between midnight and 1 a.m. Tuesday, New Zealand time, where they then face a fast 49km mountain bike before a big 67km whitewater kayak down the spectacular but remote Ahaura River.
(Blow-by-blow coverage can also be had at the Southern Traverse main site.)