ADVENTURE RACING

Explosive start to Chapter 6 of GODZone

By GODZone

GODZone Chapter 6 got underway Saturday morning with an explosive start off the main beach in Queenstown Bay.

Hundreds of well-wishers lined Marine Parade downtown Queenstown to see off the 280 competitors as they began their 420km journey of running, mountain biking, kayaking, abseiling and rafting through the spectacular Southern Lakes region.

As day broke to a mild and calm morning, the 70 teams gathered beside Queenstown beach with many friends, supporters and families in tow to say goodbye.

GODZone Race favourites and returning champions team Yealands Family Wine with world champion adventure racer Chris Forne were in full race mode positioned right at the front of the start line.

“ We know Chris had the binoculars out late yesterday trying to view the other side of the lake checking out if there were any clear tracks over there. He was in full strategy mode planning his race teams movements around the course.”

GODZone Race Director Warren Bates and Operations Manager Anna Bastin sounded the start gun just after 7.00am sending the teams off on an epic expedition that will take teams up to seven days to complete.

“ It was a tremendous start to the race and exhilarating to see all the teams running down the beach here in Queenstown towards the One Mile track and heading up to Skyline,” says Race Director Warren Bates.

“In the first five or six hours of the event all the teams are going to experience some of the amazing spots that all the locals enjoy here like the Bobs Peak, the Skyline bike tracks, Queenstown Hill and paddling down the iconic Shotover and Kawarau Rivers.”

One of the highlights of the day will the Pursuit teams abseiling off the historic Lower Shotover Bridge.

“That bridge stands 16 meters above the river with panoramic views of the Shotover River and mountains so it will be spectacular and possibly a little nerve wracking for the teams,” says Bates.

The teams are expected to have completed the Stage One prologue that includes mountain running, biking, gorgeering and kayaking from Queenstown to Whitechapel in Arrowtown by nightfall.

The adventure-racing field will then head into stage two and the first major trek over Bullendale to the famous Branches Camp in Skippers Canyon some 33km away.

GODZone is one of the most technically challenging expeditions in the world with teams racing for up to seven days and navigating their way through 300 – 500km of unknown terrain. Each team of four must stay within 100 meters of each other at all times as they kayak, mountain bike, trek, raft and climb across some of New Zealand’s most iconic landscapes.