12 October 2012
After 3 days of racing Team Seagate are throwing everything they can at Wulong Quest. Gut wrenching stuff. Here’s Nathan Fa’avae’s latest report from China:
“Started with paddle, we had a pretty good paddle exiting in 2nd a minute or so behind Toread.
Once onto the MTB stage and the steep climbing we were working hard, Sophie and Trev not their normal racing speed, we all worked our guts out and were slowly passed by teams, first Tineli, later Thule and then Ay-Up Lights (USA).
We arrived at the rest area less than a minute back from Thule and Ay-Up which we were happy about, we simply couldn’t go any faster.
After the 15-minute break we had a 10km run, this is where we lost contact with the 3rd & 4th teams but we did a good job in protecting 5th, the best we can salvage I think from the race.
The final bike was really taxing with lots of mud and hard to get really going smooth, luckily it had a good elevation drop. An abseil and then into the kayaks, we had a solid paddle and then finished the day with the cave run.
All up, we’re not part of the race this time around, we’re in damage control and just surviving each day.
Toread are in total control of the race and today showed their class with a convincing and un-challenged stage win.
We’re not expecting much more from the final day, just go as best we can and get to the finish, 5th will be a real achievement for us if we can hold that.
Today we gave it our all, everyone is working really hard and digging super deep.
We’ll probably get a penalty today as well due to me not having a whistle at a gear check, it came off from around my neck when I took my PFD off after the paddle … bit of a joke really, a whistle, sometimes you do have to wonder.”
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11 October 2012
Day 1 (but the second day of racing after the Prologue) has now finished. Team Seagate are showing plenty of heart as they smash through fatigue and injuries to keep pressing on. It’s been a huge year for the World Champs who deserve mega respect for continuing to push hard.
Here’s the latest from Team Captain, Nathan Fa’avae:
“Seagate:
Our prologue was pretty tough. Trev and I felt flat and Sophie was not her usual self. Just lacking power and speed plus the other teams were going really well. Nick with his fresh legs put in a powerful effort that a horse would be proud of. Sophie also had a bike crash that annoyed her injury she incurred from France, not a great stage for us, finishing 9th overall quite a few minutes off the pace.
Day 1
Based on our prologue result and starting in 1-minute intervals, we started 9-minutes behind the lead team. The paddle went really well for the first half with us passing 4-of the teams in front of us and it looked like we’d likely catch 6-of them, exiting the paddle in 3rd. Then little problems started to happen, Trev and Nick paddled into a massive whirlpool / eddie and lost minutes getting back into the main flow, fatigue and steering challenges had us slip back to 8th off the water, not a great paddle stage.
On the hike Trev had his climbing legs but Sophie was just not firing like she normally does. The pace set by team Toread was punishing and all the teams are racing on the rivet as a result. The biathlon went okay for us, had a small delay on ropes and then the second part of biathlon was good. The final MTB was a slog, cold, wet and muddy. Sophie is doing amazing, her tenacity and toughness shows the class of the athlete she is, obviously not recovered from the World Champs she is having to dig ultra deep to keep racing, but she’s a champion.
It’d be fun to be up at the front of the race mixing it with the other Kiwi teams but we simply aren¹t good enough this time around and they’re going awesome. I think we’ve moved into 5th, it’d be nice to climb higher but in all honesty, I think it’d be wishful thinking to expect to wake up in the morning and be going full speed.
We are just making the most of what we have and doing the best we can with what we have this time around.”
Hang in there Team Seagate!!
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10 October 2012
The Prologue has just finished and Nathan has just filed his report with the MARCH. Tough opening day for the World Champs. They were meant to be doing this one for fun though so lets hope they dont suffer any more accidents and get to enjoy the racing!
“Hi Man
Not a great day for us! 
Just flat as, no power, in about 9th place, 4-minutes down roughly.
Soph had a bad MTB crash but okay.
Team in good spirits and hoping to be at faster speed tomorrow, motivated and pumped, just need the energy to return, left it in France I think.
Looking forward to another day racing, just hope we’re all healthy and strong. It’s all good.
Other Kiwi teams in 1st and 2nd – Go NZ!
N”
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9 October 2012
Nathan Fa’avae, Team Captain of Seagate, has just confirmed the Wulong Quest course, which has just been announced to the athletes.
Looks like a strong mix of disciplines with a fairly chunky prologue to sort them all out early doors. Here is the latest from Nathan:
Prologue 13.5km
2km Run
500-metre Carry Chair
4km Biathlon
6km Mountain Bike
1km Run
Day 1 – 75km
500-metre Run
30km Kayak
4km Run
8km Biathlon
33km Mountain Bike
Day 2 – 72km
8km Kayak
18km Mountain Bike
6km Canyon
30km Mountain Bike
8km Kayak
2km Run
Day 3 – 61km
13km Run
8km Kayak
10km Run
30km Mountain Bike
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8 October 2012
Team Seagate have made it to Wulong and are preparing for the race start on the 10th. Further below you will see our earlier post giving a quick outline of Team Captain and AR legend Nathan Fa’avae, along with an interview he gave the MARCH as he left for Wulong.
Upon arrival in Wulong he sent the MARCH the following update:
“Hi
Travels went well, I slept all the way from NZ to HK, we had a few hours in HK then up to China, few hours on bus and here now in Wulong.
Been out training this morning, 1-hour run and 2.5 hours on bike – team felt pretty good.
Race starts Wednesday. Sophie’s knee still not 100% so hopefully she’ll be okay in race.
It’s really cold here, raining, almost snowing.
It’s weird as the last 2-years we’ve raced here in the start of September and it’s been intensely hot.
Still, good to be at another event, amazing landscape, the Natural Three Bridges quite an impressive piece of Geology.
The racing will be ultra competitive which is awesome but general feeling in team for this one is we want to enjoy the trip and have some good fun.
Nathan”
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7 October 2012
World Champion and AR legend Nathan Fa’avae sets the trail that others try to follow. And has been doing so since the start. Ask anyone on the circuit whether they know him and they all do – but seldom see him as he’s always too far ahead. Name a sport and he’s got it nailed. Outrageously competitive on a mountain bike (err that would be 7 years in the national team!), sensational with a paddle (1st place in surf ski races are the norm for training) but get him anywhere near an adventure race and you can forget it about. He’s gone before the B of the Bang. A multiple World Champion, he tried to retire from the sport but popped back, and you know what happened – he took out the World Championship (again!)!
He is a top man of the first order and the living legend took time out to speak to the MARCH as he left for the Wulong Quest.
The MARCH – Tell us about your team for Wulong Quest.
N.F – Team Seagate have made one change. Captain Nathan Fa’avae, Sophie Hart and Trevor Voyce will be joined by the team’s male reserve Nick Ross, who is replacing Chris Forne, due to work and orienteering commitments. Ross is no stranger to international competition having raced in China at the Baise Adventure Challenge (2010), XPD Australia (2010) and the Expedition Idaho USA (2011). A former national level rower, he has also raced on the European amateur cycling circuit for a season before turning his focus to mountaineering, making him a well rounded athlete for adventure sport.
The MARCH – Sounds like a strong team, with huge experience. How have things been going this year?
N.F – The team have had a ‘blinder’ of a season so far, winning four out of five of the major events on their calendar. They started their winning streak by taking Tierra Viva in Argentina by nearly a full day. They followed that up with a 14-hour winning margin at Godzone, then in August won the Ordos Adventure Challenge in China en route to collecting the World Title in Europe from under the French noses.
The MARCH – Can Seagate go five from five?
N.F – Probably not [laughing] we’re trying to recover from what has been for me the most physically taxing expedition race I have ever done. My energy is yet to return, I know Trev has been knocked for a six with a stomach bug and Sophie has a bad slice in her knee, stitches and some healing complications.
Seagate will be up against elite level competition in the form of Adventure Sport NZ, led by the highly accomplished Richard Ussher. His team includes wife and multiple Coast-to-Coast winner Elina Ussher, Braden Currie and the experienced Stu Lynch.
Dougal Allan has another strong Kiwi team with Fleur Lattimore, Marcel Hagener and Glen Currie. They have the capacity to be extremely competitive. It’s quite feasible that New Zealand teams could fill the podium, taking first, second and third and a large chunk of the $150,000.00 cash pool.
The MARCH – What’s the international competition like?
N.F – Challenging the NZ squads will be the French / Swedish team of Thule, runners up at the AR World Champs in France, the American team, Colorado who are always a front-runner. There are essentially 5-teams vying for the podium places. Thule have a sub also, Petri Forsman the great Finnish athlete from Team Nokia will be racing. If Team Thule trust his experience and guidance, they could be racing for a win, Petri knows how to win races and he also knows how to race Rich and me, there’s a lot of history there.
The MARCH – Sounds like a tough race with some jolly strong competition. What are the chances for Seagate?
N.F – it’s not realistic for us to expect to win against teams that have been preparing specifically for this race. Also, in Ordos [5-day stage race in August, Inner Mongolia, China] we were basically travelling at the same speed as Adventure Sport NZ [Richard Ussher’s team], we just happened to have a better seeding position than them, which gave us an advantage from the start that we held, but the teams were almost inseparable. The other advantage they have is Rich, who is a whole different level athlete than everyone else at Wulong, he alone can carry the team to victory, I know that because I raced with him in Wulong last year when we won, I was sick and Rich raced with the strength and power of two men.
The MARCH – After the success you’ve had this year it must be hard to stay motivated for another race, so soon after the World Champs?
N.F – Yeah, it feels different heading back to China. I guess France was such a big focus for us, our dream goal, now that we have that title, the racing season feels complete. I guess it’d be like someone winning lotto on Saturday and turning up for work on Monday. But, once we see the course that could change their goal as each year the order of disciplines, the length and difficulty of the days always favours different teams. Once the gun goes we’ll be racing our best, that’s all I can say for certain.
The MARCH – Whatever happens its going to have been one hell of a successful year for you and your teammates. We’re right behind you – go hard!
