Richie McCaw & TEAM PwC in 6th Place at Godzone
New Zealand’s rugged southwest coast is treating competitors to a true wilderness experience as the gruelling ten-day GODZone adventure race
continues in Southland.
Day five of the 540km race has seen front-running teams slowly emerge from the southwest coastal track to arrive at
Rarakau near the Humpridge Track.
An excited crowd gathered to watch as former All Black Captain Richie McCaw and his PwC team members Rob Nichol, Sarah
Fairmaid and Bob McLachlan arrived at the transition area in the sixth position.
Team captain Rob Nichol says the course has been spectacular so far.
“We are feeling great about how the team is tracking and happy to be at TA3.The last section was long, and both Richie
and Sarah ran out of food, so we are pleased to be here. Richie is slightly unsteady on his feet right now, but once we
get some tucker into us everyone will be good to go," said Nichol.
The next stage is a 160km mountain bike leg through Rowallan Forest to Borland and Percy Saddle and over to West Arm on
Lake Manapouri. Nichol says racing alongside other top Kiwi teams has been enjoyable and they are pleased with how the
race is shaping up.
”At this point on the course, we just want to make the most of the good daylight. This next mountain bike leg has some
tricky navigation through the Rowallan Forest so it will be good to get through that before nightfall.”
Nichol is suffering from swollen hands and the team have several scrapes and blisters from bushbashing, but they remain
undeterred.
”So far, so good and we are looking forward to getting to final stages of the race particularly the trekking leg from
the Freeman Burn on Lake Manapouri over to Lake Te Anau,” says Nichol.
GODZone Chapter 7
1st – 10th March 2018
Top 3 Teams
1st Swordfox
Brent Edwards, Ash Whitehead, Stuart Lynch, Georgia Whitla
2nd Yealands Family Wines
Chris Forne, Emily Forne, Dan Busch, Aaron Prince
3rd Bend Racing/Fear Society
Jason Magness, Chelsey Magness, Andy Magness, Adrian Braaksma
GODZone Chapter 7 Stages
• Stage 1: Packraft/Trek/Packraft Waiau – Borland 110km
• Stage 2: Caving/MTB Motu Bush 55km
• Stage 3: Packraft Southern Fiordland 150km
• Stage 4: MTB Rowallan Percy 160km
• Stage 5: Kayak West / North Arm 14km
• Stage 6: Trek Kepler Mountains 24km
• Stage 7: Kayak Lake Te Anau 35km
Follow live tracking of GODZone teams here:
GODZone is one of the most technically challenging expeditions in the world with teams racing for up to ten days – night
and day - navigating through 540km of unknown terrain. Each team of four must stay within 100 meters of each other at
all times as they kayak, mountain bike, trek, raft and climb across some of New Zealand’s most iconic landscapes.