As the fifth morning dawned it became clear to the
riders that while they had taken on hills in the North Is-
land, they would need mountain goat skills for the South
Island.
Twenty kilometres of rock hopping saw the riders
reach the Maungatapu Saddle upon Mount Richmond,
at 754 metres they were above the cloud base, the site
of the days first challenge. It saw riders having to ride a
touch trials section while remembering a flight number,
boarding time and seat number to be relayed to an offi-
cial. You’d be wrong in assuming this was easy.
The route back down the mountain was no less tough
as everyone reached the fishing town of Nelson, no time
for rest as the riders were again challenged by riding
up and over another mountain, on the way to Murchi-
son at the head of Buller Gorge; it caught a number of
riders out, before reaching the highway that took riders
through the gorge and to the west coast and Tasman Sea,
ultimately reaching Punakaiki Beach.
The days second challenged awaited; the Rab Chal-
lenge and with it came many laughs. Riders were asked
to run across the beach, remove their boots, unpack and
climb into their Rab sleeping bag. They then had to re-
verse out, pack the bag, slip their boots on and run back
to the next teammate. A perfect end to a day that saw
many riders fall, all got up and continued, and as reflec-
tion set in many marvelled at South Africa starting to set
the scene for what was to come.
The former winners were now 11 points ahead of
France who now held a narrow lead over Italy. The Aus-
tralian team had fought back to be placed 8th just two
point ahead of the USA. The International Female Team
(1) put in a great performance and moved into the top
twenty, two points ahead of the North African team.
Riders were shocked when the realised that day 5
would be quite easy compared to what was to come on
day 6.
Mountain tracks, passes and many river crossings
were the order of the day as everyone had to make a
440-kilometre ride from the west back to the east. Rid-
ing started at 7am and as the sun rose the bikes made
their way south along the Punakaiki Beach to Grey-
mouth, it included the first challenge where riders were
to ride another trials course however with a great differ-
ence.
Teams had to have two riders complete the course in
near identical times and with no timing devices the third
team member had to pace both riders individually. As
with trials, a foot down or fall, cost penalty points, tough
when part of the course was under water.
From Greymouth riders took Arthur’s Pass across the
mountains and into the Canterbury Plain which provid-
ed a little respite as they entered several farming roads.
TRAVERSE 15