ADVENTURE RACE: Racers in dark over course

Tutira, on the Napier/Wairoa Road, is today's location of the Snow Wilkins Hawke's Bay Adventure Race.
Starting at Boundary Stream Inland Kiwi Reserve, more than 90 teams of four and two-people will kayak, abseil, cave, orienteer, mountain bike and run for up to six hours to complete the race, the details of which is kept a secret until the evening before the event.
Race director Tim Wilkins said the course was the most exciting yet and would take in the true adventure element of this type of race.
"This is by far the best course we have found and the activities will take place in a true adventure playground.
"This race is growing rapidly in popularity as it takes people into the unknown with activities that are exciting and adventurous," Wilkins said.
Event organiser Damon Harvey said competitors would have little time to prepare having only been told the secret location at the race briefing last night.
"The mystery of where the course will be adds to the excitement and adventure of it all, and this year there's some very different elements to the course including caving," Harvey said.
Competitors were asked to bring a torch or head lamp for the caving part of the course which will see them underground crawling and squeezing through tight spots for more than 20 minutes.
The adventure begins at the Boundary Stream track before meandering its way down to Lake Opuahi and finishing at lake Tutira.
The race will see top-class athletes competing including Craig Stevens, from Taupo, and Hawke's Bay's Grant Clifford and Lyn Helliwell.
Last year's winning team overall, Fish Out of Water, made up of Glen Yule, Tony Harris, Jessica Patchett and Brian Astridge, hope to beat 2004 champions The Originals, consisting of Nicola and Peter Young, Richard Stone and Russell Nettlingham.
The multisport race is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. It also caters for all disciplines.
The race, one of New Zealand's biggest team multisport events, is part of the Heart of Adventure series, a three-race adventure series in Hastings.
The other two races were the Kaweka Challenge and the Hastings Pak'nSave Triple Peaks held last weekend.
The races aim to place Hawke's Bay on the map as the perfect location for adventure racing in New Zealand.
Other sponsors of the adventure race include Hawke's Bay Today, the Radio Network, Attn! marketing pr, Kiwi Adventure Company, HB European, Canoe & Kayak and Soul Sport.