Posted: November 13, 2005

Adventure Racing: 2005 World Championship Spectacular Start

November 14 2005: The 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship got underway with a mass start in Westport this morning and competitors are now seakayaking the first leg of their 430km journey.

The World Championship which is sponsored by the West Coast Development Trust is being held in the Buller region of the West Coast of the Southern Alps and 46 international and Kiwi teams are competing for the prestigious title.

The Minister of Tourism Damien O'Connor, officially started the race in front of crowds of spectators, many of them young school children out to support their local hometown team Team Solid Energy.

Mr O'Connor wished the competitors luck and looked forward to welcoming them back to Westport at the end of the week.

The first stage saw competitors swarm down the main street of Westport running to North Beach where they launched kayaks into a rough swell. Nathan Fa'avae's favoured Balance Vector team was first into the sea.

While some teams handled the surf others did not fare so well and one of the Subaru Canada boats was the first to come to grief. They were assisted ashore by the safety boat and eventually got underway again. The UK Davies family team Salomon GB also also flipped one of their boats as did the Australian team Hardtale.com Mountain Design.

Officials say there were no real problems and the seakayaking leg will take teams to the first transition area where they will head off on a four to five hour mountain bike trek from Denniston to Lyell.

Teams were upbeat this morning and pleased to have the race start underway.

The first teams could be across the finish line on Nine Mile Beach at Tauranga Bay as early as Friday afternoon (November 18).

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

Website: www.southerntraverse.com.