A new mountain bike event covering the entire length of the West Coast Wilderness Trail starting in Ross and finishing in Greymouth has just been launched.
Ride the Wilderness will be staged on November 18 by Ashburton-based CJM Events Ltd, which runs outdoor events including the Around Brunner cycle race
CJM owner and Ride the Wilderness race director John Moore said the inaugural event had been launched this week with the blessing of the wilderness trail trust, the Westland and Grey district councils and the Department of Conservation, all of which have an interest in the cycle trail.
The 131km race encompasses four events, all running from south to north. The main race will start at Ross at 8am on November 18, with an expected finish in Greymouth about midday.
Separate events catering for various fitness and age levels will leave every hour, with a 100km race to Greymouth starting from Hokitika at 9am, Cowboys Paradise (Milltown) for a 64km race, and from Kumara for a 26km race.
Categories include individual and teams, cancer survivors and e-bike riders, as well as 100kg-plus for men and 75kg-plus for women.
Ultimately the organisers want 1000 participants for the race.
Mr Moore said given interest already shown, things bode well.
"We need basically 600 or more to make it work. Fingers crossed that it gets to those numbers and develops to 1000 people a year."
The grade 2 mountain bike ride should become an event "on everyone's bucket list", as a great opportunity to showcase the beauty of the West Coast and the wilderness trail.
CJM became involved following an approach from the wilderness trail trust.
"The trust asked us if we could see an event on there and this is what we've come up with," Mr Moore said.
Trust chairman Chris Steel, of Hokitika, said the new race was exactly what the trust wanted to achieve for the cycle trail, optimising economic benefits from it.
"It's absolutely what we set out for the trust in our goals and objectives, to market and promote it. An event was something we were always going to look at," Mr Steel said.
For the cycle trail to succeed and provide a return to the region events centred on it were an obvious avenue.
"The reality is everyone gets to ride it for free. Somehow we've got to make more money for the region."
- by Brendon McMahon
