Motatapu Mountain Bike Entries Close in Record Time

Entries for the 50km high country mountain bike section of the Motatapu to be held on 13 March 2010 closed 3 weeks earlier this year, when the limit of 2,000 competitors was reached on 12th November 2009 a full four months before race date.
 

Event Director, Tracey Neil says this is continuing a trend since the event was established in 2005 of the event closing earlier each year.

“The geographical spread of entries is also extending every year with a record number of entries from the North Island and overseas, entries have come in from as far away as London and Kerikeri. We also have our usual number of celebrities which this year
includes Minister of Finance Bill English back for his second year. Steve Gurney also
entered for his first Motatapu, proving you can still be a virgin at 46. Plus we have the
Team Motatapu riders, which includes James Canny, Simon Van Velthooven and Eddie Dawkins. Eddie won gold in the 1000m time trial at the Oceania championships at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill this week”, she says.
 

Tracey Neil says entries for the three Motatapu off-road running events held on the same day will close at the end of January and are expected to have record fields as well.

“For the first time the off road marathon is expected to reach its limit of 1000 runners as we are well ahead on entries compared to this time last year”.

Tracey Neil says entries for the two new running events, the 49km R&R Sport Adventure Run and the 15km Miners Trail are also going strong.