Nelson Tasman will be well represented in the 20th Merrell Spring Challenge adventure race this weekend.
“We always get good local numbers when the team event is held up this way,” declares Tasman-based race director Nathan Fa’avae.
This year is special as it marks the 20th anniversary of the first staging of the challenge, in Hanmer Springs.
Nathan confirms several of the 2007 trailblazing originals will be back for the weekend for more rafting, hiking, mountainbiking and running.
“We believe it is the largest adventure race in the world with more than 20,000 women having competed over the past two decades,” says Nathan.
His longtime international adventure racing teammate Sophie Hart, who he combined with to win the world’s longest canoe race – the Yukon 1000- in July, is returning after missing last year.
The Marlborough doctor led her three-women team to victory at Rabbit Island in 2024.
As usual, the exact race course won’t be revealed until the night before the 6am start.
“As we are returning to Hanmer Springs, we did think about using the original course. But we have gone from 330 entries in 2007 to 1500 this year, so it wouldn’t have worked logistically,” says Nathan.
It will be the second biggest field ever assembled, behind Geraldine 10 years ago.
“It is not just an event, it is a milestone, a celebration, so it is going to be a party. Bring your bikes, wetsuits, dancing shoes and a little bit of glitter,” enthuses the multiple world champion adventure racer.
“The Spring Challenge has become something of a generational tradition, with mothers, daughters, sisters, friends and workmates forming teams. We want it to be good for the women taking part, whether they are experienced athletes or newcomers, and also for the communities that welcome us.”
Twenty years is a long time for an event to keep attracting new participants, but as Nathan concludes, adventures don’t really get old.
