SUPPLIED/GODZone
Adventure racer Shaun Palmer, of New Plymouth, in the Godzone Pure event. Palmer s team, Ataraxia Macpac, finished fourth.
Overcoming sleep deprivation and being able to navigate in dense native bush in pitch black darkness proved crucial for Shaun Palmer’s Ataraxia Macpac team in the recent GODZone Pure adventure race through the central North Island. Palmer, from New Plymouth, and teammates Tom Reynolds, Matt Jeans and Hannah Lowe averaged three hours’ sleep a day for just under six days to cover more than 650 kilometres. They took fourth place in last week s event, coming in 17 hours behind Nathan Fa’ave s Avaya team, which crossed after four days and 23 hours, eight hours ahead of Richie McCaw’s second placed isport team.
Saturday, 6 March 2021, 5:50 pm
Nathan
Fa ave & Sophie Hart
New
Zealand s iconic expedition-length adventure race put the Sold Out sign up just one day after opening entries back
in September 2019, and teams have been champing at the bit
ever since to get on with the job of racing.
Day two
of the 666km event has not disappointed with plenty of
fast-paced action at the front of the field with all eyes on
Nathan Fa avae, Sophie Hart, Chris Forne, and Stu Lynch of
Team Avaya.
The team arrived at Rerewhakaaitu Camp,
near Rotorua just after midnight last night, having
overtaken Richie McCaw’s team isport and Queenstown’s