Dan will put together the Spring Challenge North course

Competitors in last year's Spring Challenge North event.
Photo / File

An adventure endurance race which gives female teams the opportunity to navigate their way through a variety of courses is coming to Whanganui.

The Spring Challenge North is a female only event and features teams of three to four women competing in a course made up of rafting, mountain biking and trekking elements.

Dan Moore, who grew up in Whanganui and went to Whanganui High School, is the event director and course designer.

"I was quite excited to bring it home and back to this landscape because Whanganui has got so much to offer and it hasn't really been on the radar for adventure sport events before," Moore says.

The annual event has been running for more than a decade in the South Island, and was first held in the North Island in 2016.

Dan Moore will put together the Spring Challenge North course in Whanganui.
PHOTO / Bevan Conley

Last year's North Island event took place in Taupō had more than 800 competitors.

The event is broken in to three, six, and nine-hour courses but will have the same start and finish points.

"The three-hour course is good if you're interested in getting involved and doing a bit of a taster and you do a bit of exercise, it's something you can aim for and complete and it's not too technically challenging.

"You definitely want to know who to read a map and ride a mountain bike, but generally the level of technical skill required for the three-hour course isn't off the charts.

"The six-hour is more of an intermediate race for those who want a big day but not an extreme day.

"The nine-hour advanced course is for the top endurance adventure racers that want to pitch it up, they might have done the six-hour before and want another level of challenge."

Moore says entrants usually practice for a few months leading up to the race but won't know the course until it's revealed the night before the race.

"That's part of the excitement of adventure racing.

"I race internationally and we do courses up to 600km long where you don't know the course sometimes until the morning of the event, that's the cool feel about adventure racing is just that unknown factor.

"You get something and you're not sure where you're going and you just have to plan your route and get out and do it."

The social element of the event is a big attractor for some wanting to take part according to Moore.

"I think adventure is a big part of it but the other really big part is getting to share it with your teammates, a lot of women who race obviously have a great time on the day and that's sort of the pinnacle of the months leading up to the race where they've already got out and done great trips with their teammates.

The Spring Challenge North takes place from October 18-20, with registration on Friday 18, the race on Saturday 19, and prizegiving on Sunday 20.

By Abe Leach
Whanganui Chronicle 5/6/19