With less than a week until the start of one of the most eagerly anticipated adventure races of the year, the Orion Health GODZone Race Directors are giving little away as to the start location for the iconic race.
 GODZone Adventure Race(Photo: 100% PURE Racing; click to enlarge) |
Race Director Warren Bates says the closely guarded secret will be revealed to the 140 competitors this Saturday (March 9th) as they travel towards the start point in similar fashion to last years race.
"We make no secret of the fact that we strongly believe in the journey concept at GODZone and the second edition of this event really emphasizes the fact," says Warren. "On Saturday the teams are going to be transported to the secret start location and then race back towards our Event HQ in Queenstown. There will be just the small matter of 513km, 11,000 metres of vertical ascent and wild New Zealand terrain to overcome."
One of the favourite past times of participating adventure racing teams is guessing where the route will go. Mr Bates says there has been plenty of speculation and it's heartening to know that many of the racers are completely wrong in their assumptions to date.
"The options here in the South Island are vast so picking where we might go is a long shot. One of the unique aspects of GODZone is the late give out of maps and route book. Teams will only receive these when they are being transported to the start location. This creates an amazing air of anticipation and the atmosphere becomes very animated and at the same time secretive as teams begin to digest what lies ahead."
 Mountain biking during the GODZone Adventure Race(Photo: 100% PURE Racing; click to enlarge) |
Last years event started in the iconic Milford Sound area where teams travelled over 520kms back to Queenstown through a series of high country alpine routes using disciplines of white water rafting, kayaking, mountain running, trekking and mountain biking.
This years event is similar in length but Mr Bates says there are even more challenging sections ahead for the 2013 teams.
"This course is broken down in to eight stages and navigation will once again be a critical component to success. Unlike the Milford Sound event, where the challenges came very early on with many teams spending the first night lost, this year's race sees more tricky navigation elements towards the back end of the course. This should ensure close racing for a few days and will put increased pressure on the team navigators at a time when they are starting to feel very tired."
The Orion Health GODZone is an unsupported expedition style race with teams travelling through a variety of checkpoints and transition areas where food and gearboxes will be available to them.
Access to the Internet, satellite imagery, and mobile phones is prohibited at all times during the event so that no team can gain any unfair advantages.
 Running through some rather nice scenery in the GODZone Adventure Race(Photo: 100% PURE Racing; click to enlarge) |
"Along with the new and varied environments that the teams will explore, the racers will undertake a couple of new technical disciplines. The mandatory gear list requires all participants to bring crampons and ice axes which points to a section of snow and ice that will be quite special for them to experience. The other discipline will remain a secret until the teams receive their route books and all we can say is that it's going to be a lot of fun and will be a world first for an adventure race," says Warren.
