The Godzone adventure race near Wanaka sounds something like sleep-deprivation torture - with glaciers and whitewater thrown in. Contestants will run, walk, climb, cycle, kayak and possibly swim their way along a mountain course for up to seven days, Mark Price reports.
Is one hour's sleep per night enough when you are in a 540km race, or would three hours be more sensible?
This question will be going through the minds of competitors preparing for four to seven days of the Godzone adventure race in the mountains beyond Wanaka, starting on February 28.
Race director Warren Bates, of Queenstown, knows the answer is somewhere in between.
''The leading teams often don't sleep quite enough because they're more worried about getting to the finish.
''And the teams at the very back sleep too much. They just get overly tired and they dilly-dally too much.''
Mr Bates said the leading teams in previous Godzone races had slept a total of two or three hours in four days.
''And that's not enough.''
He acknowledges, however, it is entirely up to teams how they run their race.
Mr Bates, a former London banker, has organised the three previous Godzone races and has spent six months preparing the Wanaka course.
He is putting the finishing touches to this year's race. At this stage, competitors know only that they will run, walk, climb, cycle, kayak and possibly swim their way along a rugged mountain course for up to seven days.
But they will be handed maps and race information only two hours before the start, Mr Bates told the Otago Daily Times this week.
''I should imagine there will be a lot of people desperately trying to get themselves organised in a short window, which makes for exciting viewing, really.''
There is no prize money, yet 55 teams of four - mostly three men and one woman - filled the field within 48 hours of entries opening seven months ago.
Mr Bates said the race attracts interest because it is different.
''Godzone is doing something which is very unique in terms of its length, its duration, its difficulty and its completely new terrain.
''There are no other races out there which are going to go to glaciers, and genuine whitewater ... and put people out in the wilderness for up to seven days without any sleep.
''It's a very unique product.''
Previous races have been run at Milford Sound, Mt Cook and Kaikoura, and Mr Bates said one of the problems for race organisers was preparing an entirely new course in a new location each year.
He and a team of 10 people are nearing the end of a ''mad six months'' of preparations.
''We have to come up with something new every year.''
Mr Bates said race organisers had to tread carefully with safety, particularly where the course included glaciers or rivers. Local expertise would be relied on to manage safety issues.
''We have just got to get the balance right of giving people responsibility for themselves and giving the exposure to risk but not doing it in a reckless way.''
Mr Bates said as the race went on, ''risk'' would reduce and navigation challenges would increase. As teams tired, they made poorer decisions, he said.
''In the last day and a-half, the mental pressure will be on the teams.''
Favourite to win the event is the Queenstown-based Seagate team, but strong challenges are expected from the Wanaka R&R Sport Torpedo 7 and Spanish team Columbia Vidaraid.
The winning team gains entry to the Adventure Racing world championships in Brazil in November.
