Te Anau Enduro an annual event was held for the 4th time on 2 March with a total prize pool of over $7000, with 125 entries for the event.
It is a fun, friendly event for competitive and recreational people, where competitors solo or team can compete the most laps over four or eight hours and can do these over the mountain bike course, run course or kayak course.
Competitors can complete laps of any course they choose, in whatever order they choose and score a point for every completed lap. All courses are well-designed to offer no advantage over another.
A multisport event, Enduro is based around the shores of beautiful Lake Te Anau with transition area at the Marakura Yacht Club where spectators can support the entrants while soaking up the beautiful weather and the scenic beauty of the lake and mountains.
Open Male team Te Namus won the gruelling “Sandfly Café” 8-hour event outright, completing 19 laps in 7:50:10. They were closely followed by solo competitor Adam Wilson who, not being a kayaker, showed what a versatile event this is and treated it like a long Duathlon. He had a huge day on the legs completing 19 laps of just the run and bike courses in 7:54:51. In the tradition of the Te Anau Enduro rewarding athletes for their awesomeness, Adam received $750 cash for his placing. For the first time, no females entered the 8-hour Solo event.
There was some great, close racing in the 8 Hour Veteran Team section with the Otago Musketeers completing 18 laps, 2 minutes faster than second placed team Te Anau Physiotherapy.
“The Ranch” four-hour event started two hours after the eight-hour event and added a swell of new competitors onto the three courses. In the team category Team Scotty and Carl charged away with it, completing an impressive 10 laps in 3:38:34. Marianne Carrol managed to put nine minutes over Chantal Hindrup in the second half of the event and win the Open Female category with 7 laps in 3:38:42. Solo Male competitors Austin Leith and Adam Cowie had a ding-dong battle with Austin winning the Open Male category with 9 laps in 3:43:30 and Adam winning the Vet Male category with 9 laps in 3:46:00. Meanwhile another race within the race was brewing between Red Simpson and Tim Lawry in the solo Secondary Schools section. Tim came with good form after recently completing the tandem Coast to Coast with his father Colin and Red showed he is also a classy athlete. In the end both lads completed 8 laps and Red just got the win in 3:56:08 over Tim in 3:57:35.
The largest categories were the various 4-hour Team categories and none larger than the secondary schools. This was hotly contested and won by Fiordland College 1 who managed to just squeeze in a 9th lap with 45 seconds to spare, ahead of St Peters 1 who completed 8 laps in 3:39:03, a mere 8 seconds ahead of 3rd placed team, Send It. In the Veteran Teams category the Lunnachicks showed that age isn’t slowing anybody down, taking the win with 9 laps in 3:59:32.
Organisers enjoyed seeing many returning participants and plenty of new faces too. Once again, the dynamic nature of the bustling transition area provided great spectator interest and a chance for competitors to assess how they’re going against each other as they transition and refuel.
The Te Anau Enduro committee would like to say a huge thank you all the volunteers who helped around the courses and to the fantastic local businesses and from further afield who support this event, supplying what must be one of the greatest prize pools for an event this size in New Zealand.
