GODZone
Stardust, Savvy and Slog
Rob Howard / 28.02.2018
The team list at GODZone Chapter 7 in Fiordland is a very, very long one – it’s a mighty entry list of 92 teams making it by far the biggest expedition race of the year.
For most it’s going to be an exploration of some remote and inaccessible terrain, even by New Zealand standards, and their objective will be to finish and enjoy being there as much as they can. Race Director Warren Bates thinks between 20 and 40% will finish so any finish is going to be a huge achievement.
For the select few though there is racing at the sharp end to consider, top 10 and podium places will be the aim, though often unspoken. Pride will matter too. It is much harder to pick any favourite this year and the betting book on the top places is wide open.
The smart money will follow those teams with the experience, a winning track record and knowledge of back-country travel in New Zealand wilderness … and that means starting with the Seagate diaspora, which has scattered its stardust throughout the field.
Their multiple world champions are on 3 different teams, and other squad members will be racing against them to make this a spicy race.
Chris Forne is on ‘Yealands Valley Wine’ with his wife Emily, Dan Busch and most notably Aaron Prince. He may be a long-time resident of Sweden and a regular with Team Haglofs Silva, but Prince is a kiwi and his huge experience will greatly strengthen a team which has raced well at GODZone in recent years. Combined with Forne’s navigational edge in the unforgiving terrain of Fiordland, where mistakes could be very costly, they will be hard to beat and they warmed up with a recent win at the Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race.
Stuart Lynch is once again with Team Swordfox, again a regular team at the race with the same line-up as last year. The team includes Brent Edwards (another World Champ winner), Ash Whitehead and Georgia Whitla and they will be out to turn high positions in previous races into a win.
Then there is Nathan Fa’avae (retired, sort of) with his new team Avaya, and he too is racing with his wife, Jodie. Mark Rayward and Dan Moore complete the team. Fa’avae says; “I’m really here to support Jodie (my wife) in her first expedition race. She wanted to experience GODZone and convinced me to come along. Our team doesn’t have competitive goals, which is a different focus for me, but we do want to travel smoothly and not make mistakes, we’re good friends who want to share a special adventure in an amazing location.” However, Bates is tipping the team for a top position based on Fa’avae’s competitive nature, experience and his huge back-country experience.
Jo Williams, a double World Champ with Seagate is back in the competitive Torpedo 7 team led by Richard Anderson, and yet another Seagate World Champ, Bob Mclachlan in on Team PWC. He is racing with All Black rugby legend Richie McCaw, who is now a GODZone regular and in recent weeks the two have had winning outings at Red Bull Defiance and the Coromandel AR. Bates thinks “they won’t be satisfied with a top 10 placing” and just how high they could finish is intriguing.
So far there has been no mention of any visiting international teams, but McCaw is sure to be mentioned alongside former S. African rugby international Stefan Terblanche, and he is racing with his countrymen from 'Merrell Adventure Addicts'. They are probably the most experienced visiting team to this GODZone, with the exception of Terblanche, who is attempting his first adventure race!
He knows what he is taking on. “Going straight for GODZone as your first attempt at adventure racing is like sending Tweet to tackle the All Blacks during the World Cup” he said, talking of team Captain Graham ‘Tweet’ Bird, who has done 21 expedition races (but doesn’t know how to throw a ball backwards).
Other experienced visiting international expedition racing team are Bend Racing Fear Society, which includes yet another husband and wife pairing, Jason and Chelsey Magness, along with Andy Magness, so that is a real family affair. There is also a Bend Racing/Yogaslackers team, again with loads of international race experience, and the same can be said of Real Discovery from Japan. There are also 9 Australian teams, most of them with years of XPD experience behind them.
If any of these were to get on the podium however it would be a major surprise as the field is stacked with home grown Kiwi AR talent, and no one has beaten them on home soil at GODZone yet.
There are other strong teams too of course, and the one we’ve not mentioned yet are last year’s winners! Team Tiki Tour took the title in 2017 when the race was in Queenstown, which is home territory for them. This year the course will be very different, less speed and more slog, and they will be out to prove they can retain their title whatever the conditions.
The race starts on March 1st at 8am when all 92 teams will set off to find out what GODZone Chapter 7 and Fiordland has in store for them. This year the course is open for 10 days (previously it has been 7), and the winners are expected to finish in 5 or 6 days, which tells its own story!
You can follow that story and the positions of all the teams at www.godzoneadventure.com
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