The largest and most experienced field ever will line up for the Discovery Channel Adventure Race — a Southern Traverse partnership being held in Canterbury, New Zealand, this November.

A full field of 60, four-person teams has been confirmed for the 2000 race and the list includes some of the best adventure racers from around the world who will be traveling "down under" to compete in New Zealand.

Set to be one of the most competitive events on this year's world adventure racing calender, the Discovery Channel Adventure Race will make compelling viewing on Discovery Channel's worldwide network in 2001. Having secured the exclusive film rights for the 2000 race, a four hour miniseries will be produced for DCI by USA production company Catch and Release Communications.

"We have been overwhelmed by how many fantastic athletes want to come and join our adventure in New Zealand," says Race Director Pascale Lorre.

"It's exciting to have such a big field of 60 teams and unfortunate that we couldn't fit everyone in who wanted to race, as there are some very worthwhile teams on the waiting list. It is building up to be a titanic struggle between the best international and best Kiwi teams, and we will truly know who the best in the world is after the race in November."

New Zealand's best adventure racers will compete hard against each other on their home turf. Last year's Southern Traverse winners Steve Gurney, Nathan Fa'ave and Kathy Lynch return to defend their title and they will come up against fellow top New Zealand racers John Howard, Keith Murray, Andrea Murray and Neil Jones — who are considered to be one of the most experienced teams in the world.

From the USA, leading competitors include Will Burkhart who has put together Team Explorer with Richard Rude, Evans Macmillan and Chris Burgess. Tracyn Thayer and Norm Greenburg will race as Team NOC with Chris Haggerty and Andrew Matulionus, and USA women Rebecca Rush and Louise Cooper Lovelace will be racing as an international team with Mark Foster and Kristina Strode Penny from New Zealand .

Finland's best adventure racers on Team Nokia, who won this year's Raid Gauloises, led by Petri Forsman, are confirmed to compete in the Discovery Channel Adventure Race along with a French team made up of Eric Billoud, Francois Allemoz, Louisa Steiger and Yves Masson.

Other top teams include 1998 Southern Traverse winners Hadyn Key, Tim Grammer and Aiden Craig, New Zealand's Team Cromwell led by veteran racers Bill Godsall and Jim Cotter, and Team IceBreaker with Duncan Hamilton, Hamish Hamilton and Keith Foster.

A media team of leading international racers is being put together by Discovery Channel and will be filmed through out the 450km course as part of the DCI documentary. Executive producer for Discovery Channel, Sean Gallagher, says having a media team made up of some of the world's most proficient racers will allow the production crew to capture the unique nature of adventure athletes during times of intense physical endurance and should make for some fascinating footage.

Teams from Japan, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Brazil and The Netherlands are all represented in the race that is estimated to take the leading teams a full five days to complete. This year the first eight teams to place will receive cash prizes totalling $100,000 (USD) and the increased prize money is expected to add to the competitive edge of the race leaders.

This year is the 10th anniversary for the Southern Traverse event now known as the Discovery Channel Adventure Race and race director and course designer Geoff Hunt says this course is the longest and most challenging to date.

"I expect even the most experienced competitors to be extended on this course particular in the high mountain sections. All the teams will need to have a very sure knowledge of glacier travel and be comfortable with moving over rocky terrain. The course runs predominantly up in the high mountain ranges of Canterbury and there are some areas that will really test skills," says Hunt.

Geoff Hunt also notes: "Navigation has always been a crucial part of the Southern Traverse courses but this year the importance will be on teams being able to correctly interpret the land and move quickly across it. The direct route on the map will not always be the easiest one."

Over 500 competitors, support crews and race officials will converge on Canterbury in the second week of November making the Discovery Channel Adventure Race one of the largest events to be held in the South Island this year. Approximately 30 international media will travel to New Zealand to cover the events and daily news coverage will be televised worldwide.