Godzone Announces Major Prize Pool For Expedition Racing World Championships

GODZONE has today announced a major boost to its prize pool for next year’s adventure racing event that will see winning competitors at the inaugural Expedition Racing World Championships handsomely rewarded.

GODZONE Chapter 11, the world's largest expedition-length adventure race, is being held in Fiordland, South Island from the 23rd – the 4th of March 2023.

A significant step up in prize money sees the total prize pool expanding to $150,000, by far the largest sum ever paid out during New Zealand’s rich history of the sport.

GODZONE Event Director Warren Bates says it’s in response to the international elevation of the championship event - sanctioned by World Obstacle/Federation Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles (FISO) – and increased commercial sponsorship activity.

“The introduction of this level of prize money reflects the continued advancement of GODZONE’s global status alongside some incredible sponsorships coming together behind the scenes, with the ongoing work we are doing with FISO, the sports governing body.”

“This is such a positive development for the race and the sport in general, with the event now presenting the largest prize purse in the world of expedition racing - we are justifiably proud to be offering this to our highly competitive teams.”

The GODZONE Expedition Racing World Championship prize pool will reach across the top five teams racing in the PURE category totaling $137,000 in prizes. It includes an international prize of $12,000 for the first overseas team to place and finish the full course at the multi-day expedition racing event.

“If an international team can come to the sport's birthplace and win the event, they could walk away with $57,000 in prizes and the trip of a lifetime to go with it,” says Bates.

“With national and international competitors eager to secure racing spots when entries open on the 1st July, this will be an additional enticement for those international teams keen to head down under and try and beat our champion Kiwi teams.”

“ We also have $13,000 of prizes for the leading three teams in the PURSUIT category, which is a slightly condensed version of the PURE World Championship course, along with the top Colt team in recognition of younger racers competing at the top level of the sport.”

Bates says interest in New Zealand's high-profile expedition racing event has skyrocketed since announcing the Expedition Racing World Championships endorsement earlier this month.

“ Despite the challenges thrown up by Covid over the last two years, we have been able to execute a couple of extremely successful and rewarding Chapters of GODZONE. We saw the completion of our 10th Chapter of GODZONE as an opportunity to shift up a gear and bring the world back to this adventure mecca. Kiwis love to showcase their backyard and are rightly proud of their traditional strengths in this sport. None will want to give up a podium place to any international team, but the incentive is there for some spectacular racing."

“ The level of this prize pool is a massive step up for expedition racing as a whole and a reflection of the huge effort and commitment competitors have put into the sport over the years, which now has a very bright future ahead of it.”

© Scoop Media