Team 'Further Faster AR' take on the Canterbury Adventure Race.

What's it like to do a 9-hour Adventure Race?

Well, Mikey Mitchell, 1/4 of the Further Faster Adventure Racing Team or "Further Faster AR," gives his race report of the Canterbury Adventure Race that took place in August and talks about the team's training for Wulong Mountain Quest in China....

On Saturday, the 16th of August, we had a whirl at the Canterbury Adventure Race. Set in the farmland surrounding Glen Tunnel, North Canterbury, it was only an hour away from Christchurch. This conveniently meant we could drive in the morning of, after waking up in our own beds. Except the Queenstown-based Chris, who slept in the spare room, and Couscous the Cat peed on his bed.

This was the first proper outing for this version of the Further Faster Adventure racing team. With some of the usual recruits (Holly, Barrett & Harvey) out and about over the NZ winter, we have pulled together a team for the 2025 Wulong Mountain Quest in China. The team consists of Sarah Jenkins (Coast Legend), Chris Sanson (does all versions of endurance sport very fast), Sam Fox (current Oceania XC MTB champ), and myself – Michael Mitchell (General AR Mongrel). We also carry the mana of our fifth team member, Karati ‘two packs’ Metcalfe (toughest man in AR?), who sadly had to withdraw after a gnarly mountain bike crash coming off the Wharfdale track. Trying to keep up with this fleet of weapons has me sometimes feeling like Gimli in the running scene of Lord of the Rings: ‘Just keep breathing Mikey, that’s the key’.

The race in China is a four-day stage race where we will race 6 – 9 hours per day and then retreat to our hotel at night to recover. The navigation component is less than a traditional Adventure Race, too, so it has quite a multisport vibe about it. Temps are regularly in the mid to late thirties too…. so, a bit different to the winter currently being experienced in Woolston. As part of the heat acclimatisation, we slapped together a heat chamber, and we're sweating away in my garage.

So, the 9-hour Canterbury Adventure Race was a great race to simulate some of the things we will experience in China. A chance for us to understand some of the usual scenarios: towing strategies (can Sam tow three people at once?), and can we work together well as a team? Will we go too fast and make dumb nav mistakes? Will course Director Tim Farrant design a course that puts us through spikey things for no particular reason? The answer to all of these questions was… yes!

The course started with a 2-ish hour Rogaine, then a 5-ish hour MTB, then a 1-ish hour Rogaine to finish. Good weather meant a pretty fast start with all 24 teams picking up a little steam running down the road. It was good fun for the first stage, swapping places with many of the teams, as little decisions over micro nav resulted in gains or losses. I opted for a straight-line approach on one CP – we all got a mouthful of gorse as a result. At this point, Sam, in his first AR, briefly pondered why people pay to do this sport. Over the next 8ish hours, highlights included keeping the feet off the ground for much of the gruelling MTB climbs, hike a bike through unpruned pine forest, and living up to the further in Further Faster. A team of very capable teens, Nate & Tana from the West Coast, opted for the more effective precision over speed with their navigation and taught us a lesson or two.

A beautiful day in the hills, great views of the snowy Alps, plenty of laughs with each other and our mates in the other teams. Well-run event, and good fundraiser for a local Christchurch school. Now, back to the heat chamber of happiness, and a final tune-up before China.

All photos from Middleton Grange School, except for the heat chamber one.

If you liked this blog, check out this one all about what Rogaining actually is: Rogaine 101: What is a Rogaine? And Rogaine Maps. – Further Faster