Tour de Wakatipu innovative mountain bike challenge

The New World Tour de Wakatipu, a new mountain bike challenge proposed for Easter 2009, will provide exclusive access through Coneburn Station alongside the Kawarau River and conclude with a function at Chard Farm winery.

Southern Traverse Director Geoff Hunt says the 45km event on April 7 will appeal to mountain bikers of all levels and was born out of the idea of staging a fun, but challenging race through the Wakatipu, incorporating two lakes, two rivers and new tracks recently developed by the Wakatipu Trails Trust.

The event begins in the Arrowtown / Millbrook Resort area and follows a course to gain access to the newly gazetted Wakatipu Trails Trust tracks, across Speargrass Flat Road and on to Slopehill Road. This leads to the scenic single track alongside the Shotover River and across the restored Lower Shotover Bridge. The course then follows a gravel road and 4WD track to the Shotover delta, before joining the Kawarau River track and crossing the Kawarau River bridge, at the exit point of Lake Wakatipu.

A one kilometre highway section accesses the scenic and private Kawarau River road on Coneburn Station and the gentle undulating ride leads to the finish line at Chard Farm.

"The ride is for both elite and recreational competitors, and from the front of the field there will be intense competition, as these athletes race to finish the event in around two to three hours. The recreational bikers will take anything up to five hours," says Hunt. "It has some fantastic elements and in particular it is a great opportunity for people to ride the private Kawarau River road which has never been opened up to an event before."

The event will also include age group sections which allows entrants to be competitive with their peers and a junior section (15-19 years) is designed to encourage younger competitors to participate.

"Biking is growing in popularity and people are always keen for a new event which covers fresh country," says Hunt. "This will suit a range of abilities and will be an excellent follow up ride to the Mototapu challenge in March."

The Tour de Wakatipu will raise funds for Cure Kids which funds research into children's life threatening illnesses. More than $21m has been invested into research since the charity was established over 30 years ago and several world first research breakthroughs have been achieved.

"We are delighted to be the charity for this new event which is Queenstown based," says Cure Kids CEO Kaye Parker. "Cure Kids has an excellent association with the area and this is another opportunity to profile our work locally."

Wakatipu New World owner/operators John and Mary Thompson are excited about being the lead sponsor for the Tour de Wakatipu.

"This event is a great opportunity for us as a locally owned and operated business to promote and support healthy living in our community and to support Cure Kids, which is a very worthwhile charity. As keen cyclists ourselves, we look forward to participating in this event and encouraging others to give it a go as this is definitely an event for cyclists of all levels."

The finish and prize giving at Chard Farm will feature a barbecue and live entertainment. "The whole idea is to create an event which everyone can enjoy then relax and soak up the atmosphere at the winery,"says Hunt.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Jenny McLeod +64 (0) 21 357 173
or Geoff Hunt traverse@queenstown.co.nz or txt +64 (0) 275 967 530