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The message has arrived at headquarters that the team is moving rapidly through the last mountain run section over Mt. Owen with no thought of sleep or slowing down. Focused on delivering a record time for the 1999 Southern Traverse event Steve Gurney, Kathy Lynch, Nathen Fa'avae and Aaron Prince are expected to arrive sometime between four and six Thursday morning. Race director Geoff Hunt is now moving towards the Mapua Beach finish line to prepare for the team to nearly six hours ahead of original predictions.
Rain and overcast conditions on the third day has not halted the progress much, with teams continuing to move through the Nelson Lakes region. Team Cromwell, in second place, have completed both the rafting and mountain bike sections and are now also on the final mountain run. Bill Godsall, veteran Southern Traverse athlete was in good spirits coming off the rafting section and looking for any opportunity to catch Star & Garter. Taking a moment to down some good kiwi tucker, a cold pie, coke and chips at the transition, he said the Cromwell team would be pushing hard through the night to try and reduce the lead.
The central Otago team Icebreaker remain in third place and are currently halfway through the Buller raft and camped on the side of the river awaiting the lift of the dark zone at 6am. The dark zone on the rafting (9pm to 6am) is expected to hold a number of teams at St. Arnard overnight with a mass start tomorrow morning on the river making for an exciting raft run.
Current dropout rate amounts to six teams withdrawing completely from the race and thirteen teams continue to race unranked.
— Margo Berryman, Southern Traverse
*Southern Traverse Photographers Include: Derek Paterson, Brian, Jurgen Ruoff, Barbara Newton, Rob Lile, Tony Di Zinno, Gareth Eyres, Alan Nelson, and Beyond City Limits.
EXPEDITION DISPATCHES 
