Hungry McCaw feels the pain on tough GODzone stage

Former All Black captain Richie McCaw was ‘‘unsteady on his feet’’ after his team toughed it out during a gruelling Monday in the GODzone adventure race.

McCaw and PwC team members Rob Nichol, Sarah Fairmaid and Bob McLachlan held their top ten spot on Monday, but team captain Nichol said McCaw was a little unsteady after running out of food during the fifth day of the gruelling 10-day race across Southland and Fiordland.

‘‘We are feeling great about how the team is tracking and happy to be at TA3 (third transition area). The last section was long, and both Richie and Sarah ran out of food, so we are pleased to be here.

‘‘Richie is slightly unsteady on his feet right now, but once we get some tucker into us everyone will be good to go,’’ Nicol said at the day’s break on Monday.

The leaders arrived at Rakarau near the Hump Ridge track at Tuatapere and yesterday set out on a 160km mountain bike leg through Rowallan Forest to Borland and Percy Saddle and over to West Arm on Lake Manapouri.

McCaw’s team remained seventh out of 50-plus teams, nine hours behind leaders leaders Swordfox, featuring Brent Edwards, Ash Whitehead, Stuart Lynch and Georgia Whitla.

Nichol says racing alongside other top Kiwi teams has been enjoyable and they are pleased with how the race is shaping up.

‘‘This next mountain bike leg has some tricky navigation through the Rowallan Forest so it will be good to get through that before nightfall.’’

Nichol was suffering from swollen hands and the team have several scrapes and blisters.

‘‘So far, so good and we are looking forward to getting to final stages of the race particularly the trekking leg from the Freeman Burn on Lake Manapouri over to Lake Te Anau,’’ Nichol said.

Overall the race covers 540 kilometres of rugged terrain.

The rules state each team of four must stay within 100 metres of each other at all times as they kayak, mountain bike, trek, raft and climb across iconic landscape features.

1st Swordfox Brent Edwards, Ash Whitehead, Stuart Lynch, Georgia Whitla 2nd Yealands Family Wines Chris Forne, Emily Forne, Dan Busch, Aaron Prince 3rd Bend Racing/Fear Society Jason Magness, Chelsey Magness, Andy Magness, Adrian Braaksma 7th PwC: Rob Nichol, Sarah Fairmaid, Richie McCaw and Bob McLachlan

GODZone Chapter 7 Stages • Stage 1: Packraft/Trek/Packraft Waiau – Borland 110km • Stage 2: Caving/MTB Motu Bush 55km • Stage 3: Packraft Southern Fiordland 150km • Stage 4: MTB Rowallan Percy 160km • Stage 5: Kayak West / North Arm 14km • Stage 6: Trek Kepler Mountains 24km • Stage 7: Kayak Lake Te Anau 35km