All Women All Spirited All Adventure

Before my time being the Event Manager of the Spirited Women – All Women’s Adventure Race, I was recruited into a Spirited Women team in 2018 due to the injury of one of their team members.

- Kezia Trask

Not knowing about the event or having any expectations for the weekend ahead, I was very quickly blown away with what started to be a weekend I’ll never forget.

I have been in the events industry for over ten years, and have attended hundreds, if not thousands of events. In previous roles, I was always encouraged to participate in events to ensure you had a first-hand perspective of what your attendees were experiencing. This was never a chore for me, as I very much loved the chance to test myself and see where the journey took me that day. I travelled down to Whakatane/ Ohope on Friday morning to take part in my first ever Adventure Race. I was excited yet nervous as this was very different from any other event I had ever experienced.

I met up with my teammates on arrival, Team Zeenya (Women’s clothing company). Introducing ourselves, I was speechless to learn that my first teammate was a professional triathlete. Then after my next introduction, to my dismay, my second teammate was in the NZ army. My third teammate (which I was already aware of) is a top surf lifesaving champion. To put this into perspective, I’m your averagely fit and averagely strong female standing next to, what felt like was three well-oiled machines. I’m positive at the best of time, but these weren’t my typical trail buddies. After a five minute conversation, my fears were put to rest. They assured me that they were solely there to participate and have an enjoyable day, not to win (with a slight competitive smile).