Hundreds flock to farm for high energy event

Long uphill tracks, rough terrain, high altitude and amazing views. If this isn't enough to attract you to this mountain bike and running event, maybe the chance to get up close to the giant wind turbines will be.

This was certainly the case for this year's White Hill Wind Farm Classic event, with a turn out of more than 400 participants. This was a fantastic effort for a small local event that was organised almost entirely on volunteer hours. Carolyn O’Kane, part of the event organising committee, said she expected the wind turbines to draw a lot of people as they are not in any other event but she was overawed by the response. “I had no idea we’d have that many people.”

The White Hill Wind Farm is on a site that locals often used for running and cycling but once the wind farm was developed people were no longer allowed access to the site. This led to the development of the White Hill Wind Farm Classic mountain bike and running event. The event is the brainchild of a group of avid mountain bikers and runners in the Mossburn/Lumsden area. After competing in many events themselves, they saw a fantastic opportunity to create a new and unique event right in their back yard at the Meridian Energy wind farm, putting something different on the sports event calendar and also giving them the opportunity to raise funds for their community.

The inaugural event was held on 7 March 2009 and comprised of a 22km full bike course, 11km recreational bike course, 13km cross country run and 5km kiddies canter. It was aimed at both serious competitors and those who just wanted a recreational fun day out. The fastest time for the 22km bike course was Invercargill’s Steve Wilson in 1hr, 16mins 30s. Mr Wilson said being on the wind farm made the event unique. “It was an excellent course. It was run very professionally and had such a positive atmosphere,which made it one of the best cycling events I have been to. I will definitely be back next year.”

Meridian Energy provided sponsorship for the event with a local representative being involved the whole way through. “The Meridian representative came to all of the meetings and was involved in establishing the ground rules for the area and drawing up maps for the event,” Mrs O’Kane said. Venture Southland staff provided assistance with administration and marketing of the event by printing posters and entry forms and also helped with funding applications. Venture Southland’s Community Development Assistant Kathryn Cowie also attended the organising committee meetings and helped run the event on the day. “Kathryn was amazing; there was nothing you couldn’t ask her to do. We could not have done it without her,” Mrs O’Kane said.

The event was a fundraiser and $10,000 from the event was donated to the Mossburn community pool. Organisers plan to make this an annual event with the proceeds going to a different community project each year. Planning is already underway for next year and organisers hope to capitalise on the success of the first event and maintain entry numbers and the support from both Meridian Energy and all the local businesses.