Wanaka adventure racer Mike Johnston (38) is expecting everything to be thrown his way during this weekend's three-and-a-half-day, non-stop Proyecto Aventura Ecuador race.
The first-placed team wins a spot in the World Adventure Race Championships in Portugal at the end of November, but nothing is further from Johnston's mind.
He just wants the team to finish as friends.
"We don't have control over placings and other teams . . . Honesty is really important.
Obviously, you race as hard as you can, but we can't allow egos in that environment," Johnston said.
Just two New Zealanders are competing in Ecuador, both for the Poland-based Speleo Salomon team, captained by Piotr Kosmala, an engineer and account manager.
Johnston, a Wanaka police officer, is one Kiwi. The other is Cromwell physiotherapist Sarah Clarke (nee Fairmaid).
Artur Kurek, a safety and health manager from Poland, rounds out the four-person team.
Both Johnston and Clarke raced for different Speleo Salomon teams in the six-day Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge in December, with Johnston's team finishing 15th and Clarke's team 17th.
Johnston has never been to South or Central America before and is looking forward to the Ecuador event, which is all off-road and ranges between 65m and 4350m above sea level.
"It will be fun. But I am feeling the pressure because I have been asked to be the navigator. I don't mind the challenge. It is just a matter of keeping your head. The last thing I want to do at altitude is to be going in the wrong direction.
"Sarah will be my guardian angel. She's got a great amount of experience and will be on the game," Johnston said.
Johnston and Clarke left New Zealand last weekend and will spend this week acclimatising in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, at 2800m above sea level.
The thinner air with less oxygen would be a big challenge, but Clarke and Johnston had been preparing.
Clarke used an oxygen machine while Johnston borrowed an oxygen tent from a friend and had been sleeping in it in his garage.
"It was OK. I stuck a warm mattress in it. It was reasonable. But you wake up and you are tired. Your body has been taxed while you have been asleep," he said.
Clarke has also devised an acclimatisation programme for the team in Quito, which Johnston said he hoped would reduce the effects of oxygen depletion. "But we will still suffer," he said.
The key to finishing safely and in good health was to build up during the event.
"We want to be storming on the last leg, not crawling," he said.
The hilly course will take the competitors through humid jungle at sea level to very wet and cold alpine terrain, where snow is a possibility.
The course goes through volcanic terrain, with rough and abrasive rocks underfoot.
Mountain-biking takes place on gravel tracks that could be very muddy if it rained.
The kayaks are supplied because it is very expensive to transport double kayaks to another country.
While everyone is racing in the same kind of boats, the lighter crews would probably gain an advantage because the water line would not be too low, Johnston said.
With this in mind, he and Clarke have been experimenting with some "Kiwi ingenuity" involving sticks and ropes to keep both team boats travelling in line at the same speed.
The innovations would be practised before the race.
Kayaking was not a strength of their Polish team mates, who excelled in trekking, Johnston said.
The course is kept secret until just before the race begins, but Johnston expects to be paddling on lakes and rivers.
"It will be all off-road, as far away from civilisation as possible. The possible hazards? Spiders as big as your feet, anaconda snakes, mosquitoes the size of small birds. Everything from Jurassic Park," Johnston said.
But the biggest challenge may be getting home in one piece for a friend's wedding the following weekend.
"I will be leaving the day after the race," Johnston said.
The race
The Huairasinchi-Proyecto Aventura Ecuador
•Non-stop, assisted 300km adventure race.
•Elite international teams are allocated a local support crew member.
•Founded in 2003 by a group of young people looking for a new way of getting to know their country.
•Disciplines: trekking, mountain biking, rope skills, kayaking, orienteering.
•Permitted navigation tools: topographic map, compass, altimeter. GPS units forbidden.
Website: www.proyectoaventura.com
