The course for the 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship (ARWC) in the rugged Buller region of the West Coast of the Southern Alps has now been designed.
The course for the 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship (ARWC) in the rugged Buller region of the West Coast of the Southern Alps has now been designed and 60 international and Kiwi teams will take up the challenge to compete for the world title in November.
The world event which is principally sponsored by the West Coast Development Trust will be held from November 11-19.
The Queenstown based event management company, Southern Traverse Ltd, won the rights to run the 2005 World Championship. It is the third world championship to be held - the first was in Switzerland in 2001 and the second in Newfoundland, Canada in 2004.
The 2004 Southern Traverse was held on the West Coast based out of Hokitika while the ARWC will have Westport as its headquarters. The course is not expected to be any tougher than last year's Traverse, which was made particularly difficult by rough weather conditions.
"The Southern Traverse has a reputation for outstanding adventure race course design and any of the courses we have created in the last few years have been at a sufficient level for a World Championship," says AR World Series Director Geoff Hunt.
The World Championship course will however be longer than the traditional Traverse. Last year's West Coast race was won in 99 hours by the winning Team Kathmandu.
"I'm expecting the winners this year to complete the race in around 106 hours."
The race includes trekking, mountain biking, rafting, kayaking (ocean and river) rope skills and caving.
"The weather is also a major influencing factor. Each year the Southern Traverse has attracted its share of inclement weather which has had an effect on the race course and competitors. With the event this year in the Buller region we may expect to attract more Nelson type than West Coast weather," he says."Some of the bush is a bit kinder as well, being more beech trees and tussock, rather than the unforgiving monkey shrub competitors encountered last year. There is also lots of good single track mountain bike riding which they will enjoy."
The caving section, introduced for the first time, could be testing for some teams with its tight squeezes and narrow passages.
"It's quite unique and while it requires an abseil it doesn't need any physical skill, "says Mr Hunt." It's all in the head and while some people will automatically handle it others will find it intimidating and may have to conquer their fears."
While all the teams who complete the event will be skilled at all the disciplines the winning teams will be the ones who get the navigation right.
Several Kiwi teams have already been training in the area trying to identify where the course might take them. "Some parts are not too difficult to work out," says Mr Hunt, "but we have some surprises as well."
AR World Series organisers say this year's race is definitely not 'a Southern Traverse rebranded.'
"The Adventure Racing World Series was set up to include 10 events around the world which act as qualifying races for the AR World Championship. It was a conscious decision to have a pool of events which would culminate in a premiere world event."
Mr Hunt says the concept has taken off and adventure racing athletes regard the AR World Championship title as a prestigious one to win.
"The two top teams from each race in the AR World Series will be in New Zealand for the ARWC which speaks for itself. Just over 1000 athletes all up will have raced in the qualifying events which lead up to the West Coast race in November. The competition is going to be intense, with NZ$100,000 and a world title at stake."
Competitors are entered in the 2005 World Championship from New Zealand, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Poland, Czech, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, Holland, Chile, Spain, UK, Guatemala, Croatia, Russia and Japan.
Southern Traverse Ltd is a premier international sports event management company operating elite events around the world, including the Adventure Racing World Championship, the AR World Series and the Southern Traverse.
The Adventure Racing World Series is an international circuit of premiere adventure races representing 10 countries creating a 12-month calendar of professional events around the world. The series events are: Beast of the East-USA, Raid the North Extreme- Canada, Ecomotion/Pro - Brazil, Explore Sweden - Sweden, The Bull of Africa - S.Africa, Terra Incognita - Croatia, Bergson Winter Challenge - Poland, Wilderness ARC - Scotland and Southern Traverse -New Zealand. Adventure Racing World Series events are qualifiers for the Adventure Racing World Championship.
