Teams had to navigate over a set course, travelling in any direction, collecting as many CP as possible, and the team who collected all 15 CP in the quickest time was the overall winner.  Only a handful of teams chose to miss out some of the higher CP.

The MTB section covered almost 50km and the trek section almost 30km, with the highest point on the whole course being CP3 on the trek section at 1152m.

The race was on between Heartland Ricoh and Apollos Arrows but unfortunately Heartland Ricoh forgot about CP8 on the MTB course and decided to go back and get this once they had completed the trek section.  There was only 7 minutes between them.  An experience I am sure they will not let happen again!

Spoonbill (Emily) experienced a minor setback with a broken chain at the start of the MTB section but that was soon fixed.  They finished 1st in their category.

Team 3 Blind Mice (Barry) had an issue with his shocks giving out and had to return to HQ (already half way to CP8!) to swap bikes.  They soon made up the delay even if they did spend too long in transition!

The majority of teams had crossed the finish line with the sun shining and only a handful of teams experienced the southerly that crept slowly up the valley, but teams still had a smile on their faces at the end of the day.

The fastest time (Chimpanzee Bar) over the trek section was 3hr 34 and MTB section 3hr 2minutes.

The first male team home, and 1st overall, was Chimpanzee Bar (Milan Brodina/Jim Cotter) in 6hr 36 followed closely by Tiki Tour (2nd overall) (Tom Lucas/George Lucas) in 6hr 45.  Spoonbill (Chris Forne/Emily Wall) was the 1st team to finish in the mixed category in a time of 6hr 52 (3rd overall).  The 1st, and only women's team home was team Friends Go Adventuring (Jo Hoyle/Cherie Rusbatch/Tamsin Page) in 11hr 5 minutes.

I am glad to hear that some teams were puzzled with the words they had to write down at each CP, especially Shagrat who was a large, long armed orc in LOTR (see photos) and that they had to write them down there and then so they wouldn't forget them.  All words were characters in LOTR movies which linked in with the name of the event, Edoras Challenge, which was the capital of Rohan, and filmed on Mount Sunday near Erewhon close to Mt Potts station which was the venue for last year's adventure race.

The majority of teams travelled from Christchurch to take part in this year's event with a few teams travelling from as far North as Auckland and as far South as Queenstown.

With a shot gun finish once the last team came home (11hr 23), the BBQ was fired up for the hungry troops and a sumptuous 3-course feast was had by all!!!

A massive thank you to Malcolm and Sue Prouting (Mesopotamia) and to Roger and Janine Johnson (Forest Creek) for allowing us to hold our annual adventure race on their land.  This part of NZ is stunning with views to die for and is an area where only a few of the competitors had actually visited before the event itself!

Thank you to all the sponsors of this year's event, the fabulous spot prizes were greeted with open arms.

Frontrunner Timaru, Thule, Huttons Honey, Rasdex, Barkers, Horleys, Health 2000, NZMTBR, Anti-Flamme, Tekapo Springs, Hanmer Hot Pools, Godley Hotel Tekapo, Kohan Restaurant Tekapo, Mt Potts Lodge, Braemar Station, International Antarctic Centre, High Country Salmon, Thir, Ems Power Cookies, Latitude Magazine, Rangitata Rafts, Café Plums Geraldine, The Purple Lizard Timaru, The Front Store Timaru, Air Safaris, C-Bay Timaru, Speights Ale House Timaru, Soul Surf Skate Timaru, Cookie Time, Temuka Pottery, Rebel Sport Timaru, Hassle-Free Tours, New World Timaru, Pak 'n Save Timaru