Adventure Racing World Championship
West Coast of the Southern Alps
November 11-19 2005, hosted by the Southern Traverse
International and Kiwi teams made up of the world's most talented adventure racers will go head to head in the 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship in the Buller region of New Zealand's West Coast in November.
About 60 teams, from a diverse range of countries, will line up at Westport for the start of the unique world championship event on November 11-19.
Competitors come from New Zealand, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Poland, Czech, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, Holland, Chile, Spain, UK, Guatemala, Croatia, Russia, Germany, Australia and Japan.
The world's leading adventure racers are coming to the West Coast to compete on the world stage in New Zealand, following a number of prestigious qualifying races. The 10 races held around the world provide the basis for the world competition and the level the athletes achieve is quite outstanding.
Top contenders for the 2005 World Championship title will include the former Seagate team now known as Balance Vector which is internationally recognised as one of the best.
The all New Zealand team led by Nathan Fa'vae includes Richard Ussher , George Christison and Kristina Anglem and will be throwing down the gauntlet to high profile teams such as Nokia (Finland) Cross Sportswear (Sweden) Saab Solomon (UK) Nike AGC Balance Bar (USA), Go Lite Timberland (USA) and Kiwi teams Merrell, Kathmandu and Bridgedale Socks.
The West Coast course will include orienteering, trekking, mountain biking, caving, abseiling, kayaking and rafting, and will be run in some of New Zealand's most spectacular scenery providing the sort of conditions many athletes have never encountered before. The total distance is expected to be around 500ks. The prize pool of NZ$100,000 prize money will be up for grabs for place getters, as well as other prizes worth $20,000.
The 2005 Adventure Racing World Championship is sponsored by principal sponsor the West Coast Development Trust, Air New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand, and Macpac.
Photograph: "Winner Team Kathmandu in the Paparoas, West Coast, Southern Traverse 04" by Michael Jacques.