> report filed November 14, 2005 by Michael Jacques
The Adventure Racing World Championships got underway on New Zealand’s West Coast this morning and already Kiwis are leading the way.
Westport put on a typical West Coast welcome for the world’s best adventure racers this morning. Almost 200 athletes from 40 countries got under way in mild but wet conditions. Several hundred spectators cheered the race through the main street of downtown Westport as it started with a short run to kayaks waiting at the mouth of the Buller River.
The Buller River will play a central part in as the world title event unfolds this week. Yesterday race director Geoff Hunt revealed a 400k course that circumnavigates the great river. But this morning all eyes were on the Tasman Sea as the race got underway with an exciting sea kayak from the mouth of the Buller River.
Competitors had to fight out through a six-foot swell for the 14k kayak north to Waimangaroa. The breakers, in fact, broke a few boats as several teams came to grief either starting or finishing the kayak leg.
One team who didn’t have any issues with this exciting opening leg were race favourites, New Zealand’s Team Balance/Vector. The team of Nathan Fa’avae (Nels), Kristina Strode-Penny, Richard Ussher (Q’town) and Marcel Hagener (Taupo) dealt with the conditions without any issues to take a 5min lead into the second leg, a 49k mountain bike up through the historic Denniston coal mining town and over the William Range to the historic gold mining site of Lyell.
Balance/Vector added to their lead on the ride, opening up 15min over fellow Kiwis Sierra International, the American/Kiwi contingent Team Montrail and defending world champions Team Nike/Balance Bar (USA). Finland’s Team Halti followed, with West Coast favourites, Team Kathmandu of Jill Westenra, Marty Lukes and brothers Hamish and Duncan Hamilton content with sixth place so early in the race.
“We’re going as fast as we want to for this stage of the race,” said team captain Duncan Hamilton as the team sat in transition preparing for the following leg, a 37k overnight trek over the Lyell Range.
Part of the transition process was a decontamination bath. The Buller River has recently been afflicted with the alga Didymo and following any sections on the Buller River athletes must be decontaminated to stop the spread of the alga into other waterways.
All teams are now in the Lyell Range, with the leader expected to finish just before daybreak on Tuesday morning. Ian Adamson, leader of USA’s defending world champions Nike/Balance Bar, was surprised to learn that Nathan Fa’avae’s Team Balance/Vector had taken such as early lead, saying, “Really, 38min, oh.”
Nike/Balance Bar is expected to move up the field tonight. But Balance/Vector are expected to extend their lead thanks to Nathan Fa’avae’s local knowledge from years spent exploring the area when he was a rafting guide on the Buller River. This will come in handy tomorrow too, with the next stage being a rafting section on the Buller River.
Team Kathmandu is also expected to make a big move overnight. No one knows the Buller region better than the Hamilton brothers, who have lived and trained on the West Coast all their lives. After the course announcements in Westport yesterday Duncan Hamilton was very pleased, saying, “We’ve been over most of the route at some point, so I don’t think there will be too many surprises.”
Hamilton was also happy with the wet weather as Team Kathmandu headed into the trek this afternoon. “Bring on the rain,” he said. “The wetter the better.”
The forecast for tomorrow is indeed for more rain, but clearing weather for Wednesday. Tomorrow the course moves from the overnight trek to the rafting
section and then back into another trek, this time an un-tracked 30k stint on the Brunner Range. Leading teams are expected to take 16 hours for this demanding leg, which will means the following mountain bike leg around the Reefton area will most likely take them into Tuesday night.
All told competitors will cover jut over 400k for the world championship race. A winner is expected at the Tauranga Bay finish line, near Westport, on Friday morning. But race director Geoff Hunt warns that the West Coast’s infamous weather could affect both the finishing time and the current leader board. Hunt was pleased to see Kiwis leading the way, but said, “It’s early days yet. Adventure races are usually won in the last two days not the first two days.”
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