Half Marathon Donates Over $10,000 To Bike Taupo

The Mizuno Half Marathons continue to contribute to the Taupo community donating over $10,000 to Bike Taupo and $6,000 to young Taupo athletes to help them achieve their goals.

Now in its 16th year, the popular on-road Mizuno Half Marathon and its off-road counterpart are run by the Taupo Half Marathon Society, which donates its proceeds to young athletes and sporting groups. Like many sporting events in Taupo, it also makes considerable donations to community groups whose members assist with the running of the event.

“Almost 1000 entrants participated in the inaugural Mizuno Off-Road Half Marathon on September 5th on the W2K track, resulting in a donation of $10,800 to Bike Taupo for their assistance with the event and for maintenance of the track,” said Wayne Reardon, Event Director for the Mizuno Half Marathons.

Bike Taupo is very pleased with the donation.

“It costs over $30,000 plus countless volunteer hours each year to maintain the mountain bike tracks in and around Taupo which are a favourite with locals and tourists so we are very grateful for this donation,” said Richard Balm, Chairperson of Bike Taupo.

“When we started building this track, some said it wouldn’t be possible to have a track suitable for runners, walkers and bikes – with the inaugural Mizuno Off-Road Half Marathon, we certainly proved them wrong,” continued Richard.

In the latest round of funding from the Taupo Half Marathon Society, ten young Taupo athletes received money to help them achieve their sporting goals – they were Glen Fraser (Swimming), Sarah Fraser (Swimming), Patrick McCarty (Swimming), Hannah Orchard (Snowsports), Rose Battersby (Snowsports), Ellie Stevens (Indoor Rock Climbing), Ryan O’Donnell (Gymnastics), Ruth Whitinui (Gymnastics), Jack Davies (Gymnastics) and Ryan Gulliver (Gymnastics)
Orchard and Battersby recently competed in the 2009 Snowboard and Freeski Junior Nationals where Orchard won the Girl’s U19 Giant Slalom National title, following on from the gold she won in the Dual Giant Slalom at the North Island Secondary Schools Snowboard Championships at Turoa.

Battersby took two National titles winning the U16 Girl’s Freeski Big Mountain and U16 Girl’s skiercross among other titles she has won this year.
Likewise, Ellie Stevens produced fantastic results at the recent Oceania rock climbing competition where she finished 3rd in the speed category and 10th in the technical category. She has also won the Tauhara College Sportsgirl of the Year.

Former recipient Shea Reardon recently won the Xtrerra World Championship off-road triathlon for 15-19 year olds in Maui, Hawaii, and another former recipient Patrick Bevin won the Under 19 national road cycling championship near Nelson.

Over the last ten years, the Taupo Half Marathon Society has contributed over $200,000 to young athletes, sports clubs, volunteer groups and youth athletic events through the proceeds from its annual Half Marathon.

Applications for the next round of funding from the Taupo Half Marathon Society are now open and close of November 30, 2009. For more information, please go to www.taupohalfmarathon.org.nz

Keen runners and walkers should make a note in their diaries now for the 2010 Mizuno Half Marathon on 1st August and its off-road counterpart on 4th September.

For further media information, please contact Clare Ponton on (07) 377 0721 or 021 228 3721 or clare@cpcommunications.co.nz

Photo : L-R Rear - Marion Fournier (Administrator of Mizuno Half Marathon), Richard Balm (Chair of Bike Taupo), Wayne Reardon (Event Director of Mizuno Half Marathons) and Keith Crate (Chair of Taupo Half Marathon Board) at one of Bike Taupo’s tracks for the cheque handover.