Kiwis Win Fiji Eco Challenge

The 2002 Eco Challenge in Fiji has been won by New Zealanders Team Seagate.com NZ who finished the arduous 500 km race in six days and 23 hours at 8 am on Friday morning.

It was an astonishing comeback for the Kiwi team who at one point looked unlikely even to make the top three. It was also something of a compensation for last year's event when their strategy of not sleeping led to them being beaten by just 14 minutes when exhaustion forced them to a halt close to the finish line.

Detailed information, reports, pictures and full results at the official Eco Challenge site.

Of the Brits taking part, Team The North Face Kona are shown on the official site as having finished down in 23rd place, the last team to complete the course. In reality though, they actually came in either 11th or 12th since many of the teams shown as finishing above them, had actually withdrawn.

It was a fantastic effort by the Brits in one of the toughest Eco Challenges ever and they hung on their by the skin of their teeth, hitting the finnishing line just 47 minutes before the course closed. Well done guys.

For full entertaining coverage of their race, and, eventually, a full story from the horse's mouth, see the Sleepmonsters adventure racing site