Team Merrell Alpha Pack are under way in the epic Godzone Adventure race in New Zealand – expect an update on their progress as we have it.

For now, here’s a quick excerpt from our chat with Merrell Alpha Pack team leader Graham Bird hours before the start:

“Godzone finally kicked off this morning. After weeks of preparation and anticipation it was nice to finally get some real race information. We received the route breakdown this morning for logistical planning. The rest of the day was spent working out timing estimates, registration, kit checks and gear packing.

Team Merrell Alpha Pack make final kit adjustments

“The leg breakdown looks interesting. We received the breakdown of the disciplines we will do, with the distances, ascent and predicted times of an experienced adventure racer.  529km over 11 legs.  4 trekking, 4 MTB, 2 Sea Kayak and 1 Canoe. It seems it will be a quick start with two fast short legs.  It then looks like the race will start getting tougher.  A 53km MTB with an estimated predicted time of 9 hours. Seems it will be a big push. Then 4 big legs that will define the race.  51km trek, 151km MTB, 38km Trek, 101km Canoe. 4 legs with a predicted fast time of 65 hours. These will be tough.

“From then it will be four quicker and shorter legs to get us to the finish. So four bike boxes, five gear boxes are all packed with all the gear and food to get us through the event. With all four of us not knowing one another’s abilities or speed, we are estimating a time of 145 hours for the Merrell Alphas. A tough but exciting six days to look forward to.”

Below are the predicted timings for each leg of the event (click the image for a larger view) and make sure you check in with the Merrell Alpha Pack’s progress live at live.godzoneadventure.com.

Good luck guys!

Click for enlarged view