As a host of multisport competitors line up for a series of races in Wanaka this weekend, event director Matt Tuck admits he will feel tinge of envy.
Some of New Zealand's best up-and-coming road cyclists will speed around a Pembroke Park criterium course this evening and by Sunday he will wonder what he has missed as triathletes cross the finish line.
Tuck is behind the new Summer Send Off Series, offering a choice of three triathlon courses to contest.
The festival also includes a 140km road cycle race from Queenstown to Wanaka and back over the gruelling Crown Range and a mountain bike time trial event through the forested banks above the Clutha River, near Albert Town.
Tuck is an organiser who has been bitten hard by the multisport bug. He runs events company Media Unlimited, which publishes New Zealand's foremost triathlon and cycling magazines, and he was responsible for bringing the original Challenge Wanaka long-distance triathlon to town in 2007.
He describes Wanaka as "an outdoors mecca for multisporters - there's something for everyone" and wants the Summer Send Off to reflect the rising tide of the sport's popularity.
Summer Send Off Series
• Today, 6:45pm: Cycle criterium race, Pembroke Park.
• Tomorrow, 8:30am: 140km Alpine Classic road race, Queenstown-Wanaka return.
• Tomorrow, 12:45pm: Mountain bike racing (12km, 24km), Albert Town camping.
• Sunday, 7:45am: Summer send-off tri. Lake Wanaka showgrounds foreshore.
