2006 Southern Traverse Set for Queenstown Area

2006 Southern Traverse Set for Queenstown Area

20th February 2006:

Queenstown will host the Southern Traverse for the forth time it was announced today.

The Queenstown based Southern Traverse company has announced that they will stage the event on the rivers, lakes and mountains surrounding Queenstown over the weekend of the 4-5th November.

"In a change from normal format this year traverse will take on the 24hr mantle and will be designed so that all teams will finish"says director Geoff Hunt. "For the front of the field there will intense competition as these athletes race to finish the event in a time of around 15hrs, while the teams at the back should be able to make the finish in just on 24hrs'

"We are delighted to be able to stage the in our own backyard and are keen to once again show the adventure racing world some of the gems of the Wakatipu."

Last time the event was held in Queenstown in 2001 many of the local athletes were surprised to discover parts of the area that they had not seen before, and the traverse of the high peaks of Cecil Peak is seen as one of the all time great stages in the 15 year Southern Traverse history.

Destination Queenstown Chief executive Dave Kennedy
"We are delighted such a high profile event is returning to the Queenstown area. Queenstown has always considered itself to be the spiritual home of adventure racing in the world and as always our region will provide a major challenge for contestants who will compete in our diverse alpine terrain.

The media coverage that the Southern Traverse receives will continue to highlight this area as the 'adventure capital' of New Zealand."

The event will be known as the '24 Hours of Southern Traverse' and will be held over the weekend of November 4-5 2006.

Southern Traverse has a reputation for staging challenging, professional expedition length adventure races but this is the first time that they have staged a shorter length event.

"We know that we can deliver a first class quality race. We anticipate that some teams will enter the '24 Hours of Southern Traverse" this year to get a taste of what the expedition length race is like. Queenstown is a superb location and we expect strong interest in this shorter event once the word gets out."

ENDS

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