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The fifth TrustPower Adventure Quest competitors faced a blustery day with threatening rain on Saturday for the event set on the Kelvin Heights Peninsula and hills.
Competitors from around the lower South Island including Christchurch, Dunedin and Southland spread out over the area to solve the clues and find the tags.
A field of 60 teams of two experienced good racing conditions with the rain forecast holding off until the last teams were well home. Competitors returned to the HQ in Jardines Park with smiles on their faces and exciting tales to tell. A few teams were baffled by where the exact location of a few cryptic clues, and the one clue that had 'gone missing' .
The TrustPower Adventure Quest tasked teams to head out in to the hills of and tracks of the Kelvin Peninsula in search of orienteering adventure clues on foot and mountain bike. Teams were allowed 6 hours to complete the course and collect as many clues as possible.
On foot, the course covered areas on the slopes of the Peninsula Hill and by mountain bike competitors travelled around the suburb of Kelvin Heights, the track around the golf course and enjoyed the new track as far as Jacks Point.
Final results were dependent on teams arriving back in to HQ before the 6 hour deadline when points were deducted for late arrival. Many returned with just seconds to spare.
Team 'R & R Sport Queenstown', Hayden Key and Mark Williams from Queenstown (78 points) had a narrow win on the points tally from Team Altitude Training, Steve Gould and Ben Falconer from Queenstown (77 points) in the open adventure field.
When asked what was the secret to the win Williams said " Hayden and I work work well together and enjoy getting out in local area"
First Adventure female team went to the 'Hey You and Me' team of Jacqui Chilcott and Mary Jowett both of Queenstown (75 points) with the winner from the last two years Sarah Lei from Cromwell, teaming with her sister Erin Roberts, from Auckland to form the 'Sister Act' (67 points).
In the Adventure mixed section team Team Kapa Design Gallery, Malcolm McLeod and Melanie Smith from Alexandra and Arrowtown, collected 77 points moving up from their 2nd of last year to take first place and a respectable 2nd equal on points.
One point behind them in second place was Team Sugar Fixed Experience, the seasoned campaigner from Alexandra Murray Thomas and race partner Heather Bemrose (also of Alexandra)
For the Social categories the TrustPower team of Christchurch, Glenn Webley competing in his third event, and Craig Cox came first in the open division collecting 41 points. Team Nowhere Fast, Andrew Stevenson and Iain Banks of Queenstown came a very close second with also 41 points collected. TrustPower Team won on the time differential. Wats Wrong with My Bike, John Meegan and Nicki Smith (Queenstown) collected 43 points in winning first place in the social mixed category with The Tinlids, Di Liddell and Roz Hamilton, (Queenstown) took first for the social female section with 40 points collected.
Competitor and local Queenstown lawyer Tom Pryde, was heard to comment 'We would have done a lot better except for the flat tyres, but It was still amazing fun.'
It was reported that the team had three punctures with Sue Sanford having to run her bike 3kms home along the Jacks Point Track resulting in the team receiving a 2 point penalty for arriving two minutes after the cut-off time.
Several other teams received similar penalties for arriving after the cut-off
Race director Geoff Hunt was pleased with the turn out of competitors; "It is encouraging to see competitors with varying levels of fitness and experience compete. By far the majority of the teams entered the social division. People are keen to get out there, have some fun whilst enjoying the beautiful scenery and doing some physical exercise."
Competitors in the more serious side of the sport can now look forward to some of the same experience as one stage of the 24hours of the Southern Traverse, to be held on the 16-17th of November, is an orienteering stage.
Southern Traverse Ltd. is a premier international Sport Event Management company. Southern Traverse Ltd. operates and manages elite events around the world, including the Adventure Racing World Championship, the AR World Series and New Zealand's icon adventure race, the Southern Traverse.
Other New Zealand events include The North Face Peak to Peak, TrustPower Adventure Quest, and the Fresh Choice Womens Triathlon.
The Adventure Racing World Series is an international circuit of premiere adventure races representing 8 countries creating a 12-month calendar of professional events around the world and acting as qualifiers for the Adventure Race World Championship to be held Scotland May '07.
sleepmonsters.com is the official ARWorld Series web site.
Casio Protrek are the official watches of the ARWorld Series
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