Sophie Hart is a six-time GODZone champion.
Doctor, mum, adventure racing champion Expedition adventure racing is like a gruelling cross-country version of The Amazing Race. But Marlborough woman Sophie Hart believes the finish line is not as far away as we may think. Words: Britt Coker Sean Beale
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ust like you, Sophie Hart enjoys a good night’s sleep. But for about a week, every now and then, she will settle for a whole lot less. Last month she was part of team Avaya, the GODZone adventure race winners (not for the first time). She spent six days and nights bush crashing, pack rafting, kayaking, mountain biking and navigating her way through tricky New Zealand terrain with long time teammates, Nathan Fa’avae, Stu Lynch and Chris Forn. You could try it too if you want - seriously, it’s not that big of a deal. Says Sophie, “A lot of people are far more capable than they give themselves credit for. You’ll hear things like, ‘I don’t know if I could do that because I just need to sleep. That’s not a good reason not to try though, in my mind, because I totally fall into that category. But until such time as you try these things you really have no idea.” All four have plenty of experience in expedition racers (over 50 events for each of the guys,
‘somewhere in the mid twenties’ for Sophie) which can be useful for winning, but it isn’t everything. The second-placed team were relative newbies. “I think as long as we have a really good solid race and perform well and we do all the things well that we know we can, I think we probably get more satisfaction out of that rather than necessarily the end result. Of course, we want to win, but I think we know what we are capable of now if we are sensible and race smart and have a good strategy.” Nathan is the team captain and they rely heavily on him for all the pre-race planning, but when Chris says, “Let’s go this way”, the team go this way. That’s because Chris is a top-notch navigator. Knowing where to go is perhaps the most crucial skill when well off the beaten track, since backtracking is a morale-crushing, race-losing activity no team wants to experience. Sophie says Stu is also an excellent navigator, a great allrounder
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