Police are refusing to speculate on what caused the suspicious deaths of a man and woman whose bodies were found at an isolated South Canterbury property.
Motorcyclists discovered the bodies while taking part in an off-road charity event in the Waitaki Valley yesterday morning, raising money for Waimate Main School.
The bodies remained on the scene under police guard overnight.
South and Mid Canterbury area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said the deaths were being treated as suspicious but he would not comment on speculation over how they died.
"I'm not going to comment on any possible injuries until we have finished our scene examination and have all the details so we can give you an accurate description,'' he told APNZ.
It was not known how long the pair had been dead before their bodies were found, but it was not believed to be long.
Police and forensic teams will carry out a scene examination today.
Mr Gaskin said police were still confirming the identity of the bodies. He would not comment on their ages or whether they were locals.
Post mortem examinations would be carried out once the bodies were removed from the scene.
One of the about 250 riders on the annual fundraising event for the Waimate Main School, Andrew Wright, was on his first circuit of the 40km trail on a forestry track at Waihaorunga, when he arrived at the spot where the bodies were found, about 11am.
He stopped when he saw a group of about five or six riders looking at something off the side of the trail.
"They weren't part of my group and I wondered what they had stopped for.
"I looked over to see what they were looking at."
He saw the bodies of a man and a woman, he said.
Mr Wright did not stop for long or get off his bike, because he did not want to "muck up a crime scene".
Instead, he rode a further 4km or 5km to the trail ride's pit stop base, off Pentland Hills Rd, and told a marshal, who called police.
Later, Mr Wright spoke to another rider, who told him the woman's throat was cut and the man's wrists were slashed.
Waimate Main School School principal Adam Rivett said he heard the bodies of a man and a woman were discovered by two riders.
"It's a very remote area out there and it was a strange place to find them."
If they had not been found, the bodies could have remained there for weeks or more, he said.
"It was pretty gross."
The charity event was shut down as a result.
The event had started about 9am and other riders had already completed loops of the trail, but Mr Wright believed they might not have seen the bodies.
Mr Wright could not see any vehicle which could have been used by the couple to drive to the area.
The remote forestry track could only be accessed by walking, motorbike or 4WD vehicles.
The trail ride was stopped and Mr Wright returned home to Timaru, rather than wait to see what happened after police arrived, because he suspected the track would be shut down for days while police investigated.
Waimate Main School board of trustees chairman Tony McKenzie was taking part in the charity event but did not see the bodies.
He said the discovery came as a shock.
"We were having such a good day with the trail bike ride and we had such a good turnout of riders.
"It doesn't leave a very good feeling now."
The event had been cancelled immediately.
There were many rumours circulating about what had happened and it was hard to know what was true, Mr McKenzie said.
"The police have it all cordoned off, so other than that, we don't know anything at this stage."
