Vintage motorbike riders from as far as Northland donned their wet weather gear for a blustery ride around Southland on Waitangi Day.
Southland Club president Brian Dunick said it was Invercargill’s turn to host New Zealand’s premier National Motorcycle Rally from February 3-6.
The national rally, which alternated between North and South Island venues each year, was deliberately timed as a pre-cursor to the Burt Munro Challenge which Invercargill hosted from February 8-12.
It was hoped visitors to the city would take advantage of both events, he said.
It was the first national vintage motorcycle rally to be held in Invercargill for many years.
Kelvin and Jacquie Mitchell from Ngatea, North Waikato frequently attended the national rallies.
While the couple had driven south for the event, Kelvin was forced out of the rally after the 1000cc 1958 Ariel Square 4 he imported from the United Kingdom started rapidly losing oil.
"I was just driving along and looked down to see oil all over my leg ... I checked the tank and it’s almost empty."
He was unsure what went wrong with the bike. He had been working on it at the weekend instead of attending Saturday’s events.
Mr Mitchell said it was great to see all the old bikes out on the road and being used.
It was something he had yet to see in the North Island, as people tended to keep the bikes more for display than actually riding them.
He said it was disappointing to have made the trip only for his bike to conk out on the days that really counted.
Mr Mitchell rejoined his wife and the rest of the field at Riverton for lunch after the organised back-up crew picked him up.
Riders had the option of joining in on long, medium or short routes (130, 80 or 50 miles respectively). The routes were measured in miles because the vintage odometers on the bikes were calibrated to.
All of the routes finished at the rugby grounds in Riverton for lunch where the public were given the opportunity to have a look at the vintage line up from around the country.
Mopeds, a recent field category addition, had featured at rallies in the past but not in the Southland region.
Entries had been received but none joined yesterday’s rally field.
"We’re saying to people, mopeds are mopeds and are motorbikes. It’s got a motor and two wheels and they scoot along."
Rally organiser Glenys McKenzie said the club had 130 entries from around the nation as well as three from Australia, for the weekend.
"It’s not a record. But I think it’s an excellent number.
"Given that we are at the far extremities of the country, and most remote area of the country ... 130 entries is excellent."
She also believed the registration numbers were impressive, especially when barriers, such as Covid, high petrol prices and long distances, and the North Island heavy rain and flooding were taken into consideration.
By: Toni McDonald
