Sixteen years after last contesting and winning the Spring Challenge, Britta Reid returned to the start line of the women-only adventure race in Hanmer Springs at the weekend.
So the Nelson competitor felt under a bit of pressure, but not for long in the 20th edition of the event.
Britta was part of the three-strong Racing Donkeys team which was the hot favourite to win the elite nine-hour section for the fourth year in a row.
Adventure racing stars Sophie Hart and Susie Wood invited Britta to join them this year, and how could she turn down that chance.
“Susie and I are best friends and won the Spring Challenge at St Arnaud in 2009, and again in Tapawera the next year,” reveals Britta, who was a successful professional long distance and ironwoman triathlete in Europe.
German-born, she moved to Nelson 18 years ago and lives in Aniseed Valley.
While the mother of two has maintained her fitness, it was still a big ask tackling the Hanmer terrain which she knows well.
“There are younger rivals coming through but I loved being back in the mountains, seeing the sun come up as we prepared to start the rafting leg and, of course, I was used to cycling,” says the 48-year-old.
It was a reunion with Susie, the team navigator, whose freshwater science work has taken her to Canterbury, while Sophie is a Marlborough doctor and multiple world adventure racing champion.
Susie has been a constant in the team for the past four years, while Sophie returned after missing the 2025 edition in Glenorchy.
The Racing Donkeys went well under the nine-hour mark for the 88kms of rafting, mostly mountain biking, running, hiking and navigation event which returned to Hanmer Springs 20 years after the first staging there.
They needed less than seven hours and 55 minutes, 16 minutes ahead of the much younger Camelbak Cruise team, which included Jessie Fa’avae, who is the older daughter of Tasman-based race organisers Jodie and Nathan Fa’avae.
Almost 20 minutes further back, the Wandering Wahine finished third.
