{"id":16549,"date":"2014-02-03T09:09:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T09:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/olympic-gold-medallist-sarah-ulmer-joins-the-pack-for-10th-motatapu-adventure-race\/"},"modified":"2014-02-03T09:09:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T09:09:00","slug":"olympic-gold-medallist-sarah-ulmer-joins-the-pack-for-10th-motatapu-adventure-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2014\/02\/olympic-gold-medallist-sarah-ulmer-joins-the-pack-for-10th-motatapu-adventure-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ulmer joins the pack for 10th Motatapu Adventure Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Olympic cycling gold medallist Sarah Ulmer is the latest athlete confirmed for the Motatapu Icebreaker Off-Road Marathon to be held\u00a0<\/span>March 8<\/b>\u00a0in Queenstown and Wanaka.<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With just two weeks to go until entries close, 37-year-old Ulmer said she entered the iconic race \u201cas an excuse to come to paradise\u201d and the chance to win \u201ca fantastic $10,000 prize pack\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n
Speaking on a recent visit to Queenstown to check out the latest developments on the Queenstown Trails \u2013 the Trails Trust is the new owner of the Motatapu – Ulmer said she always loved coming to the resort town.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cThe Motatapu is such a special event. It\u2019s so unique because you can only access the amazing scenery and course just one day a year.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
This will be Ulmer\u2019s third time competing in the race, as she previously entered the marathon and the Arrowtown.com 15km Miners Trail.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI encourage anyone thinking about entering to just do it. Enter, then enjoy and embrace it. This is a once a year \u2013 and for some – a once in a lifetime opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Sarah<\/span><\/dt>\n
Sarah Ulmer discusses tactics with race manager Gemma Boyle<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great race and a cool experience just being surrounded by like-minded people for a day – smelling, hearing and absorbing all the things around you on the day.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cIt also doesn\u2019t hurt that anyone who enters the event automatically goes in the draw to win a huge prize pack of goodies including a Scott Spark 720 bike. Nice, I\u2019d be happy to win that.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
The 10 year anniversary prize pack winner will be announced on\u00a0February 13\u00a0after entries close. The prize includes; a Scott Spark 720 bike, Giro helmet, Topeak pack and tools, Smith sunglasses, Icebreaker Tech T and Socks, an Osprey hydration pack, Marmot jacket, two nights at the Hilton Queenstown, a Jet boat trip with KJet, a 15,000ft Skydive with NZONE and to top it all off a VW to drive around in for a week.<\/span><\/div>\n
Queenstown Trails Trust CEO Mandy Kennedy said attracting someone of Sarah\u2019s calibre is testimony to the profile the race has gained over the past decade.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cThis is our tenth year and it\u2019s shaping up to have a fantastic array of elite athletes, return competitors and first timers who have set the race as a personal \u201cbucket list\u201d must do,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cHaving Sarah compete is just wonderful. She\u2019s a perfect example of someone entering to enjoy the race and embrace the event, using it as an opportunity to grab some friends, immerse yourself in the fantastic Motatapu scenery and experience Queenstown with all it has to offer.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still not too late to enter and entries for all categories close\u00a0February 12 2014, bar the mountain bike which closed in record time last year.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Ms Ulmer said she hadn\u2019t trained specifically for the event but had some personal tips for fellow competitors.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI certainly would do some off-road training beforehand, train with a camel pak so you know what that feels like and get yourself into some rivers. I loved the river crossings, they were awesome, they keep you cool,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019d encourage some wine training too, you know for when the race is over and you can enjoy that well deserved glass of something local.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certainly not in it to win it and haven\u2019t set myself a finish time. I\u2019ll be chatting to people on the way, providing encouragement and enjoying the day.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Entries for the Speight\u2019s Summit Mountain Bike category closed in record time but there is still availability for the Icebreaker Off-Road Marathon, Arrowtown.com 15km Miners Trail, and XTERRA UDC Finance Triathlon events.<\/span><\/div>\n
Entries can be completed online at\u00a0http:\/\/www.motatapu.org.nz\/<\/a>\u00a0and strictly close on\u00a0February 12 2014.<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Olympic cycling gold medallist Sarah Ulmer is the latest athlete confirmed for the Motatapu Icebreaker Off-Road Marathon to be held\u00a0March 8\u00a0in Queenstown and Wanaka. With just two weeks to go until entries close, 37-year-old Ulmer said she entered the iconic race \u201cas an excuse to come to paradise\u201d and the chance to win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}