Right now, there is a group of athletes getting as much rest as they possibly can ahead of this weekend's MacPac 24 Hours of Southern Traverse, where the backdrop for the challenging adventure race will be the head of Lake Wakatipu and Glenorchy.
Director Geoff Hunt said as was the tradition with the Southern Traverse, the course would remain under wraps until the starting horn blew at midnight on Friday.
"But I can promise competitors some very different terrain and they will be going places they haven't been before. The overriding thing they will remember about the course is the bush.
"All the treks are centred round bush rather than open tussock land, but there is some spectacular scenery on the way."
The race incorporates run/trekking, kayaking and mountain biking and Mr Hunt expected the fastest teams to cross the finish in 14 hours and the slowest in about 20 hours.
Five teams are set to compete in the open section and the two-man Queenstown team of Bruce Mcleod and Phil Wood, racing as Aurum Survey, was Mr Hunt's pick as a likely title contender.
"They are fresh from winning the TrustPower Adventure Quest and have incredible orienteering skills.
"Bruce is a former New Zealand orienteering representative and he and Phil, who is a top multisporter, are a formidable team."
However, a strong challenger would be the Placemakers Wanaka four-person team, which comprises Tim Pearson, Mike John, Gordon Blythen and Denise Thorne.
"Tim has a lot of offshore racing experience and Gordon has consistently placed in the top four in the one-day competition at the Coast to Coast," Mr Hunt said.
An under-23 section providing complementary entry attracted two teams.
The Onezonemultisport.co.nz team from Otago University already had Southern Traverse experience after competing in the Classic event at Hanmer in April this year.
Team members Dougal Allan, Mike Walker, Mattie Graham and Emmah Ussher were all making individual names for themselves in multisport and adventure racing, but would be challenged by Dad's Army, of Alexandra, made up of brother-and-sister competitors Nick and Kim Williamson, Lindsay Froggatt and Ben Necklen.
"They all have good experience in events like the North Face Peak to Peak and they have excellent mountain biking, running and orienteering skills among them.
"We are pleased to see the younger competitors stepping up and will continue to encourage them, to help expand the sport."
This year's 24-hour race also included an eight-hour adventure challenge, to persuade athletes who traditionally competed in shorter events, to test themselves on a longer course.
"The eight-hour challenge is also part of our bid to expand adventure sport racing. It is really an off-road peak to peak and makes the event more accessible to a wider group of people. We expect it will grow in popularity . . . because of the soft introduction it offers to the disciplines of adventure racing."
The competitors in the eight-hour event will begin at 10am on Saturday at Greenstone Station, with the four-stage race covering a 51km course of kayaking, mountain biking and running finishing at Paradise.
Entries will be accepted on Friday at the Queenstown Events Centre between 6pm and 8pm.
A prizegiving will be held at the Dux de Lux on Sunday.
