For a full history of events on the longest waterfall, you'd need to go back a few decades to a old-school multi-sport race that included a jaunt down its length that took place more than a decade ago. I can't seem to find the name of it via google (shocking!) so will leave it steeped in mystery. Somewhere after this event had died, some 12 years ago, our president recruited a 16 year old Fiordland College student for a mission that ran the Teal Bay track, paddled the river, then ran out via the South Coast in 16 odd hours. After that the river remained silent in terms of single-day multisport efforts, until...GodZone, Chapter 7 in Fiordland. Woo Hoo!
It jump-started the revitalization of the longest waterfall saga, which continues now with a biennial SCAR style loop race, the first edition of which was held in 2019. The rest is, well, history!
Episode 1: Nov 2nd, 2019. Participants: 17 Fatalities: 0 Injuries: 0 Swims: ?? Finishers: 17
River levels: High (>80 M3) Weather: perfect
A perfect conditions weekend--high flow on the river and wonderfully sunny skies. Records were set that will be hard to break, and speaking of breaking, someone finally broke Adrian (we won't say who). A trio of under 17's stormed around the course in single boats, learned secret wisdom about 15 hour efforts, and paddled for an hour with a pod of dolphins. We had no need to call on the medical expertise of our doctors, which is probably a good thing because they were too far out in front to have been of much use to anyone anyway. In general everyone agreed that it was a pretty fun way to spend a Saturday, and everyone went way faster than (I) expected, which was perfect because rugby was on.
Episode 2: Oct 31, 2021. Participants: 34 Fatalities: 2 (both paddles) Swims: 8 Finishers: 32
River levels: Medium (>50 M3) Weather: Awesome
Another great weekend. Moderate and 'playful' flows and warm temps. Some tired bodies came from Nelson to have a crack. Records were shattered, and shattered again. Local boys protected the crown from the heavy favorite, but just, and the heavy favorite probably has too many crowns to care anyway. A pair of paddles gave their lives to the cause, and the dolphins joined in again, but too late to do the paddles any good. A couple of teams were having so much fun they decided to stay out the whole day.