“Relentless” was a common adjective among finishers asked to describe the course for the 12th One NZ GODZONE adventure expedition race which finished in Picton yesterday.
A steady stream of battle-weary competitors kayaked into Shelly Beach during the course of the day, where they were greeted by family friends, race organisers and fellow adventurers.
Although there were official winners, and podium placegetters in both the Pure and Pursuit divisions, it was widely agreed that just finishing such a demanding challenge was victory in itself.
At the sharp end of the Pure section was the vastly-experienced Team Rab, comprising ace navigator Chris Forne, local resident Sophie Hart, plus Coast to Coast luminaries Simone Maier and Sam Clark who recorded a finish time of 6 days, 2 hours and 15 minutes.
After being engaged in a battle for the lead through the middle stages with rising stars Fear Youth, they pulled away over the final few sections and were able to rest up at Kenepuru Head overnight before paddling into the finish a clear winner.
Rab was the only team to finish the entire 613km course, except for not climbing Mt Stokes on the stage 7 pack raft and trek due to a weather call directive by race officials.
Sophie, now an eight-time champion, said she and Chris, who has done every GODZONE, rated the Marlborough course as the hardest so far.
“Just in terms of how long we were out there for. Usually we try and finish around four or five days so to be out there for nearly a whole week is quite a long time.
“And also every stage was physically demanding – everything was pretty tough – it was relentless, there was no easy stages. Often you look forward to a cruisy ride somewhere, out on the road just to recover, but there wasn’t anything like that, it was all pretty epic.”
A feature of the course for Sophie was the chance to race close to her home.
“It was awesome … lots of family and locals came out to cheer us on, especially at the transition in Havelock where there were kids from school, it was really cool to have that.”
“The Wairau and the Pelorus were in all their glory – they are such lovely rivers to paddle. I think people would have been surprised with the diversity of Marlborough – that mountain trekking we did was quite stunning and the sea kayaking is an iconic way to finish.”
She had a final word for Fear Youth, who had to pull out in the latter stages.
“They had such a good race and we were gutted to hear what happened to them. They raced really smartly and with lovely team work, it was a shame.”
Second in the Pure section was Tiki Tour with Nelson Vets Gearshop, led by former Marlborough man Brendan Hickman third.
Topping the podium for the Pursuit category was Kaikoura Adventure U20, with the second-placed team being Southland Tri 6+6 and Gizzy Gully Runners third.
Marlborough competitors were dotted through other teams.
Kieran Hickman completed his sixth GODZONE as part of the Go Fence team, who raced in the Pure section, and rated the course “up there with the toughest”.
“Just the brutality of each stage. It was continuous … you didn’t really get a rest, there was no link stage – like an easy bike, you were straight into carrying a bike up over the Acheron Saddle.
“There was nothing easy – no reprieve.
“Also the conditions – we had 35 degree days on the bike and 24 hours later you have got freezing conditions on the hilltops with a southerly coming through, full extremes.
“But it was great being at home in Marlborough. It wasn’t great timing with the farm at this time of year but being a Marlburian you just had to do it. I did love it, but his one will take a bit to sink in.”
The Allan Scott Family Winemakers, comprising Josh Scott, Sara Stocker, Ian Martella and Todd Petherick, competed in the Pursuit group. They finished the race in fine style after being forced to turn back on the ascent to Mount Stokes.
Josh said the “haul up to the summit was really dodgy”.
“We left about 3.45 in the morning to try and beat the weather but it became too dangerous and we turned back. But the organisers always knew we were safe and so did we, we never felt unsafe.”
Although they were officially unranked, Josh said just finishing the course was their goal.
“It was a wicked race, we never came into the race looking for a placing – it was about mentally pushing ourselves.
“It was a race of attrition so you all had to make good decisions for the benefit of the team … this was my second one and I have learned so much for the next one. I’m definitely going back.”
A highlight for Josh was the paddle from Rainbow down the Wairau River. “That was amazing … I had never done that before, it was awesome.”
His sister Sara said the toughness of a GODZONE course was not something to underestimate. “Whenever challenges came about, you just thought ‘well, this is GODZONE, it is what it is, if it was easy everyone would be out here doing it’.
“It has been so much fun and so good to be able to do it with my brother … we had some really good barneys out there … but that is what siblings do and we would get over it really quickly.”
Ian, a veteran of several Coast to Coast campaigns, described the GODZONE challenge succinctly, “well, if you are doing Coast to Coast versus any other race you would say Coast to Coast is a marathon not a sprint, but in this case the Coast to Coast is a sprint – this is definitely a marathon”.
Nat Gallant was part of the Macpac Team in the Pure section. They were also unranked because they lost a team member with a rib injury but finished the race, and event she described as “phenomenal”.
“I love the team work – the love for each other to see everyone though – it is such an amazing experience. There is a lot of emotion involved.”
Molly Spark said the Fear Youth team were satisfied with their efforts, despite not finishing the course.
“She was a big course … we thought it was only going to be four and a half days, but after we did the first stage we quickly changed that plan,” said Molly with a chuckle.
She said they relished pushing Rab hard in the middle stages but things came unstuck for Fear Youth on stage 8.
“We started the pack raft trek in 27 degrees, paddled then went up and over this horrible bush bashing, got down to the water than after a sleep started paddling – then the storm came though. Wind and rain – it was so bad – we were frozen and could barely move. We pulled over to the side and put more warm gear on, then paddled for another 20 minutes. It was just dangerous and we knew we had no more warm clothes and a long course to go so we just pulled the pin and got in the safety boat.
“We were super stoked with our efforts though and happy we made the right decision.”
