Now veteran multisporters, former All Black caption McCaw and his old rugby players’ association mate Nichol, and with their Wanaka teammates Jo Williams and Tim Sikma, are not tipped as favourites in the paddle, run and bike ride from Haast to Dunedin.
The favourites are Nathan Fa’avae’s Team Avaya, who have crushed pretty much every adventure racer on the planet over the last 10 to 15 years.
Everyone hopes or expects Fa’ave’s outfit to win.
But that’s not stopped 90 teams of four athletes from tackling what is possibly New Zealand’s most hardcore adventure race yet.
The 10th Godzone adventure race field is split into two — the Pure teams who will tackle the 710km full course, and the Pursuit teams, who started at Milford Sound and will cover 643km.
Bates said everyone was in for "one heck of a journey".
The weather yesterday was fantastic in both Haast and Milford, and the teams in both locations were excited and nervous, Mr Bates said.
Eighteen teams are racing the short course and 81 are racing the full.
The Godzone race patron Steve Gurney said it was amazing to be at the Milford Sound startline, where the very first Godzone began 10 years ago.
"The teams made short work of the 3km canoe to Deepwater Basin. They were very quickly pedalling like mad up to the Homer Tunnel and descending to the Hollyford Valley for the second paddle of the day on the Hollyford River. I think all the teams were trying to make the most of daylight before heading into the overnight trek over Park Pass in the Mt Aspiring National Park,” Gurney said.
Bates said the main decision for teams on the long course was which side of the Southern Alps they wanted to travel last night.
"It will be fascinating to follow the teams on GPS tracking overnight to see where exactly they go," he said.
The courses merge in Glenorchy, possibly as soon as noon today, and teams will meet their support crews for the first time.
The fastest team could emerge at Brighton on Tuesday.
