Sting In The Tail At Motatapu Icebreaker

Mid-week rain and snow has had a mixed effect on the race course for the record field of 2,300 mountain-bikers and 700 marathon runners at tomorrow’s fifth annual Motatapu Icebreaker from Wanaka to Arrowtown.

Geoff Matthews, one of the company directors, rode the course with officials yesterday and advises that competitors will face a mix of track conditions this year, some good and some not so good.

“Motatapu and Soho stations are as pretty as a picture and the track is in sensational condition, hard and fast with this week’s snow and rain damping down the dry surface,” he said.

However Matthews is not predicting record times. “The final Glencoe Station section from the descent of Soho creek is muddier than it has ever been and conditions are extremely greasy and slippery.”

Matthews predicts the 3,000 competitors on course will find this section particularly testing. “I think there will be a lot of people pushing their bikes through an approximately two kilometre stretch which is particularly greasy. Runners will also need to take care.”

“I think the best race strategy for these conditions is to work harder on the climbs and open country in the first two thirds of the course and then to take care with the descents,” said Matthews.

Motatapu Icebreaker is the largest off-road mountain-bike event in the country and the third largest marathon overall.