Posted: April 6, 2005

Adventure Racing: Unprecedented Worldwide Interest In 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship

April 5 2005: The 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship on the West Coast of the Southern Alps has created unprecedented worldwide interest with 90 teams looking for a place in the event on November 11-19.

The Championship, which is principally sponsored by the West Coast Development Trust, has been launched at a special function last night in Westport.

ARWorld Series director, Geoff Hunt says organisers are overwhelmed by the huge interest in the championship.

"All the first and second placegetters from the AR World Series qualifying races, have automatic entry and they have all registered. Places are also being held for the first and second placed teams from the three remaining qualifying races -the Appalachian Extreme, The Wilderness ARC and Terra Incognita."

Mr Hunt says the registration list, which is a who's who of international and Kiwi adventure racers, definitely shows that the World Series is working as they envisaged.

"The fact that the top two teams from each race want to compete in the New Zealand event, is evidence that the racers think the world championship title is something worth chasing. It is definitely the carrot for teams to enter their own series, in a bid to get automatic selection to the world event."

The 2005 World Championship will be limited to 60 teams and organisers are now processing the registrations.

Teams have entered from New Zealand, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Poland, Czech, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, Holland, Chile, Spain, UK, Guatemala, Croatia and Japan.

Mr Hunt says while it is exciting to have the cream of the adventure racing world competing in the Championship, there will be 30 teams which will not make the cut.

"That's disappointing for the teams concerned but we can't take the numbers any higher than 60. That's our maximum."

Teams will be notified of their selection by April 15.

Mr Hunt and his team have been scouring the Buller District on the West Coast, for the past three weeks, designing the World Championship course.

"We have had our moments and have had to eliminate one proposed mountain trekking section because it's just too tough. Our aim is to create a course which links all the exciting elements together," he says. "It's been a big call but I think we have now cracked it."

Disciplines will include a 'stunning' caving section, abseiling, kayaking, rafting, mountain biking and trekking. Plans to introduce a tubing section have been abandoned because it was 'too risky.'

"The course will of course be challenging," says Mr Hunt, "but we think it will reflect the essence of the West Coast wilderness which is the attraction for so many of the competitors."

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, Eco Motion Pro-Brazil, Appalachian Extreme-USA, Explore Sweden-Sweden, The Bull of Africa-South Africa,Terra Incognita-Croatia Bergson Winter Challenge -Poland, Wilderness ARC-Scotland, Southern Traverse-New Zealand. Adventure Racing World Series events are qualifiers for the Adventure Race World Championship.

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 event website is at: www.southerntraverse.com.