Thirty-five teams left from what was an unknown starting line just 12 hours before the 6am race start yesterday.
It was a hot start to the multi-day race as teams made their way up the Annette Glacier in the early hours, jostling for position to be one of the first on to the fixed-rope section high on the glacier.
Race director Warren Bates was not surprised Seagate, the world champion team of Nathan Fa'avae, Sophie Hart, Chris Forne and Trevor Voyce, had the early lead.
''Nathan will always say that they are not worried about anyone else ... so they just would have headed out there and are doing their own thing.
''It would have been their strategy to be the first team on the ropes because they would know that a bottleneck would occur there if they were back down in the middle.''
Seagate dominated the early going as teams headed over Mt Ollivia, down to the Mueller Hut and towards Blue Lakes near the Tasman River.
Second-placed Team Harraway maintained a strong chase and the teams arrived on the river at the same time.
''It's been a wicked whitewater canoe down the Tasman River from what we see so far,'' Bates said.
''Stu Lynch, from Team Harraway, who is a highly experienced racer, took a swim on the second set of rapids, which shows how much white water the teams are having to navigate.''
In third place was Team Macpac, which was just 100m ahead of fourth-placed Team Thule yesterday afternoon.
Bates said teams had been treated with views of the huge icebergs that carved off the Tasman Glacier earlier this month. On Saturday morning, before teams had left the meeting location in Queenstown, nervous first-time racers in Team Rogue anticipated a rough race.
However, team member Liam St Pierre, of Australia, said being a father to 7-month-old daughter Lyla would be good preparation for the anticipated sleep deprivation during the week.
After seeing an outline of course distances, Orion Health team leader Wayne Oxenham was excited to begin a second Godzone event.
''The course looks really cool and I've heard a few rumours of where we might go.''
Oxenham predicted Mt Cook would be part of the course after organisers promised competitors would be in need of their ice picks.
