At the front of the pack, UK Team Parrot-Lythgoe, with Nicola Davies leading her three brothers, took the lead before entering the Hector Mountains late yesterday afternoon and have led ever since, with Team Merrell about half an hour behind them at check point 16 early this morning.

However in a major upset, Merrell who led for most of yesterday announced just before 9am today that it was withdrawing and is walking out of the mountains. This leaves Team Parrot with an even more convincing lead of at least an hour over Marahau Beach Camp, Team Wombat and Team Cromwell.

Cal Eco Bones and Dialink France were racing neck and neck at checkpoint 16, a mere 20 minutes behind the leading three teams.

Team Leader of Cal Eco Bones Dan Barger said yesterday they were feeling confident both physically and mentally. "We're trying to do the best we can based on what Mother Nature offers us," he said.

With the expected weather change bringing steady rain and colder temperatures this may have an effect on teams already feeling extreme fatigue.

Three more teams are continuing unranked as Hamilton Seed Limited, the RNZAF team and It's Extreme Australia each lost a member to exhaustion and minor injuries during the night. The three were evacuated by helicopter early this morning from Check Point 14 in the Hector Mountains.

And yesterday evening a member of Seagate was forced to pull out at Transition Area 3 after he suffered a knock to the head when he came off his bike earlier in the day. He is currently in hospital for observation and the team is continuing unranked.

Meanwhile Thrakral/Mountain Equip Aus decided to withdraw at 8:20 this morning after a team member hurt his foot yesterday. "One member didn't want to carry on without his best buddy of 20 years, so they made a team decision to stick together and withdrew," TA 3 official Alan Ransley said.

Team Waitaki also withdrew this morning.

The all-woman team from Queenstown, Team Timberland have been travelling steadily at the back of the middle pack, and are obviously working well together toward their goal of finishing the race.

Top Contender Withdraws
09:04:39
Team 30 – Merrell Footwear – after maintaing 2nd position for the last 4 checkpoints has withdrawn from the race.

Media Head for the Mountains
03:28:49
Media Representatives are looking forward to their first helicopter flight into the Hector Mountains at 0600 today, we hope to have shots from the mountain trek by later this evening.

Current Weather Conditions
03:28:31
The night is quite pleasant in Queenstown - the weather is currently clear and calm throughout Mountainous region – there is still no moon making the night pitch black

Team 14 Charging On
03:28:11
A member in team 14 is having problems with asthma but is continuing on into the Hector Mountains

Current unranked teams
03:27:31

Team 38 Seagate are continuing on from CP12 unranked after Bill Watkins pulled out of the race with an injury. Team 60 Peel Forest OPC is continuing unranked, Jean Cory Write has withdrawn for medical reasons. Team 51 Blue Bandana have also lost team member Peter Wiening to exhaustion at CP13.

First Day Like Triathlon
The first day of the Southern Traverse seemed more like a triathlon than a six-day adventure race, with teams moving quickly and undeterred by the scorching weather.

Temperatures of over 25°C, did little to temper the pace of the front pack of racers, a pack that developed quickly once the first Kawarau River kayak section was completed.

Team Merrell Footwear-Katmandu, comprised of Duncan Hamilton, John Graham, Kate Callaghan and George Christison took the lead after Transition Area One, where they dumped their kayaks and charged through Arrow Gorge at a steady run. One of race director Geoff Hunt's top five picks, the team moved decisively in the Gorge when others seemed unsure, and established a five-minute lead over the rest of the field.

Transition Area One was very busy and three teams, caught up in the racing moment, landed themselves a 30-minute penalty for forgetting to sign out. The three teams, including Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Team Alstom, will serve the penalty at Wye Creek before heading into the Hector Mountains.

Merrell has maintained its five-minute lead since running through the Arrow gorge and at checkpoint 10, Kate Callaghan stopped long enough to pass on a choice quote from Winnie the Pooh.

"When you see Pooh putting on his boots, you know you're going for a walk," she said. "We're going superbly as a team, considering we never met each other before. The course has been really pretty today and not too hard....yet! We hope to get into the hills by nightfall."

However there's not much in it at this stage, with around five minutes separating each of the top three teams- Merrell Footwear - Katmandu, Marahau Beach Camp and Team Wombat from Australia. And the next 11 teams are all breathing down their necks.

Race director Geoff Hunt said he always knew it would be fast.

"They are racing to get into the Hector Mountains with good light before nightfall. Some of the back teams could have heat problems but so far the field is moving through the course well."

And there are great reviews from all around for the course itself. Leader of the Argentinean Team Orviz Patagonia, Juan Dedyn, said "It's been great but very fast. We've loved the downhill. It's been absolutely fantastic."

Team Alstom didn't seem too disheartened by their penalty and Sir Ranulph Fiennes said the course was "utterly beautiful. But as usual the pace is too fast for me," he joked.

Alstom's team leader, Steven Seaton, was feeling a little unsettled after his bike chain snapped and he also had a couple of crashes. "We're trying to keep up with the middle pack and minimize our mistakes. We're going a bit faster than we thought but I suppose everyone is pushing hard to make ground before night."

Meanwhile Queenstowner, Eric Billoud from the mixed American/Kiwi team, Outdoor Athlete.com had particularly high praise for the race. "This beats the pants off Eco-Challenge any day, the course is awesome," he said.

Meanwhile the first casualty of the race came at the end of the day when the female member of Team Peel Forest OPC pulled out at the Kelvin Grove checkpoint having started the race feeling unwell. The rest of the team have continued on the course, unranked.

The field are now moving steadily into Stage 5 of the course which is a 52km trek over the Hector Mountain range which flanks the southeasterly side of Lake Wakatipu. Expected times for this stage are between 13 and 26 hours for fast and slow teams, respectively.

—Courtesy, Southern Traverse Ltd.