ADVENTURE RACING

Vidaraid first international team to place at GODZone

By GODZone Adventure

Spanish and Brazilian team Vidaraid placed second in the GODZone Adventure race today in Wanaka.

Team members Barbara Bomfin, Urtzi Iglesias, Jon Ander Arambalza, and Marco Amselem spoke highly of the AR World Series race and said New Zealand was an incredible country, and they loved being at GODZone.

“It was the toughest race we have done and harder than any AR World Champs,” said Ander Arambalza.

The world ranked number one team was the first international team to place in the four-year history of the event and were upbeat about the competition. They hope to come back down under to compete again soon.

“The weather was challenging but the course was beautiful and we have wanted to be here for so long now its great to finally have done the GODZone.”

Third place was contentious earlier in the day after Wanaka based team Torpedo 7 missed a control on the orienteering section. After being told at the Dublin Bay transition the team had the choice of returning to collect the control or carry on unranked which they did.

“ A disappointing result for Torpedo 7 and one that can happen in the heat of the race,” says Race Director Warren Bates. “ Perhaps their local knowledge was a disadvantage leading them to be too sure of their surroundings and not ensuring they clicked all the points.”

Therefore, Wanaka team, Tiki Tour, moved up one place and crossed the finish line just after 4pm in third place.

Tiki Tour leader Tom Lucas said the course was challenging and well done to everyone who raced.

14 teams are currently ranked in the GODZone event, 17 have retired, 20 teams are on the short course and 11 are unranked. Lake Wanaka turned on sunshine for day five of the event however the lake was challenging for many teams paddling to the finish line.

“ Its been increasingly difficult out on the water today as was forecast with a couple of teams taking a dip and the coast guard heading out to work with our safety boats monitoring teams,” says Bates. “We have had our share of changeable conditions which in the end adds to the theatre of adventure racing and definitely not for the faint hearted.”



Tiki Tour member  George Lucas



George Lucas,Mike Kelly, Floortje Grimmett, Tom Lucas of team Tiki Tour
with kids.



Marco Amselem , Barbara Bomfim, Urtzi Iglesias, Jon Ander Arambalza
from team Vidaraid.


For more information on team entries go to http://godzoneadventure.com/team-list/ or the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/godzoneadventure

For more information go to http://godzoneadventure.com  or the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/godzoneadventure

GODZone Fact Box
When: February 28 to March 7, 2015
Where: Lake Wanaka
What: The worlds largest adventure race running non stop, 24/ 7 over 7 days
Affiliated: GODZone is an official member of the AR World Series and a qualifier for the AR World Championships.
Charity: Cure Kids has been chosen as the recipient charity of GODZone 2015
Text to Donate: Text GODZONE to 933 to donate $3 to Cure Kids (data charges apply)
http://www.curekids.org.nz
Coverage:  Watch all the action with live GPS tracking, video, photos & news at http://www.godzoneadventure.com