The Taniwha

November 9th saw us rising early (on a SATURDAY!!!!) and on the road by 7am to get to  the 2nd annual Taniwha event. This local event is fantastic-you have so many options to try. If mountain biking is your 'thing' then try 21km, 42km, 60km or 83km. If you enjoy running or walking, you can choose from 7km, 14km, 21km, 42km or gasp! 60km!! You can even enter as a team and share the beautiful scenery...and effort!!

 

 

Jeff and Olivia decided to enter the 21km mountain bike and the start line was the gorgeous Mangakino lakefront. Don't they look keen to get started??

 

 

The start line...and they're off! See you at the finish line, guys. (Olivia is in the red shirt centre of the picture)

 

 

Their awesome support crew was waiting for them at the halfway point at Whakamaru. (where there just happened to be a lovely café open serving wonderful hot coffee-hey, it had been a really early start!!)  

 

 

We stopped along Ongaroto Road to give them some more encouragement...looking great there Olivia. Just wish that slow guy in front of you would get a move on, huh?!

As you can see, there were all ages doing this event-great to see!

 

 

The finish line...well, nearly! We parked the truck and were there to see Jeff and Olivia fly past on their way to the finish line. Great riding! Total ride time = 1hour 56mins.

 

 

The awesome support crew!!

 

 

The best part of the day-chilling out after the event. The weather was just glorious (almost too hot!) and we enjoyed sitting around catching up with friends and listening to music.

 

 

Check out the scenery-not a bad place to have lunch, huh? All the events, which utilise the River Trails,  finish at the Lake Whakamaru Christian Camp and it is a stunning location.

 

 

Finally, it was time to head home. They say you should 'leave it all on the racetrack' ...and somebody obviously did just that! Well done, Olivia-we learned later that evening at prize giving she come 1st in her division (0-20yr female) so AWESOME EFFORT!!!