Exciting News! One of the world’s greatest - and certainly longest - “bikepacking” cycle races passed through our little village of Ongarue in Jan/Feb 2020.
The Race: the 3000 km Tour Aotearoa race entailed a gruelling month's cycling right across our beautiful country, starting at the northern tip (Cape Reinga) and finishing at the far south (Cape Bluff). Thirteen different groups of cyclists leftthe start blocks from 17 Feb-8 March and all of them passed through Ongarue. There was no charge to participate in this great race, but participants were asked to donate $100 to a charity and offset carbon emissions on the journey to/from the race.
The Racers: It was expected that more than 1500 racers participated (not all officially registered), so this was a logistical challenge for Ongarue. The segment prior to our village is one of the toughest of the whole race and follows the Timber Trail Great Ride.
The Rules (they were tough):
* no support teams
* 30 days maximum to the end point
* selfies must be taken at each of 30 waypoints as proof
* maximum hours of 18 hours cycling per day (!)
* GPS trackers to enable each cyclists progress.
NZ’s cycling heroes, the Kennett brothers organised the race, and have published six books on cycling in NZ, including an inspiring coffee tabIe book: “Tour Aotearoa: NZ’s 3000 km bike-packing odyssey”.
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