For the 12th time mountain bikers are set to navigate the tricky terrain at Lake Tekapo Regional Park.
Tekapo10 is a cross-country mountain bike relay race that challenges solo riders and teams to complete as many laps of a 7km course as possible within either a five-hour or 10-hour time limit.
The event also serves as a fundraiser for the Mackenzie College outdoor education department.
Event organiser and Mackenzie College sports co-ordinator Kim Jordan said she hoped by building on last year’s introduction of the five-hour event participation numbers would rise again after a dip last year.
‘‘We’d love to see as many people as possible but there’s a lot of events out there nowadays for people to pick and choose between.
‘‘We tried the five-hour event last year and it went OK. We get a lot families with young kids and they can only go for five hours, so I’m really trying to push that race a bit more this year.’’
Riders can compete across the solo male/female, team male/female, mixed team, team vet 40+, team u19 male/ female, team u15 male/female and team E-bike categories.
Mrs Jordan said the 7km course loop would be staying the same despite having looked at running it backwards this year.
‘‘The kids didn’t want to. There is quite a good downhill on it and they didn’t want to have to bike up that downhill.
‘‘It’s mainly just the perimeter of the path, we don’t go through the middle, so there will be a few different things to look at this year as some of the trees and sections have been taken out and replanted.
‘‘The track is easy but not easy at the same time. It caters for all abilities, there are some tricky sections but some of the top riders can do laps in just under 20 minutes.’’
The event is set to take place on November 22 and entries are now open.
Information on costs and how to enter can be found on the Tekapo10 Facebook page.
