On April 6, 2019, the 17th annual XTERRA New Zealand off-road triathlon and sports festival returns to Rotorua and the Whakarewarewa Forest surrounding Lake Tikitapu.
A release from XTERRA notes… ‘If you’ve ever seen Lord of the Rings you can imagine the place. The trails seem heavenly made with magic dirt and the course twists and turns through towering redwoods and monstrous ferns.’
The lure of the venue annually attracts around 2,000 XTERRA Warriors for a festive day of events that include family-friendly 5.5, 11, and 21km trail runs, mountain bike races, as well as short- and championship-distance off-road triathlons.
Some of XTERRA’s brightest stars hail from Rotorua, including athletes such as Sam Osborne and Lewis Ryan, and a host of others.
“The home race is always something special, it’s not so much my home course that makes it but the people,” said Sam Osborne. “Racing past all the downhillers waiting for the shuttle bus that you see most weekends out riding, they get right in behind us and know how to give a good heckle. And then all the people out on the course marshalling and at the lake, the home atmosphere is awesome.”
XTERRA New Zealand is the second of five stops on the 2019 XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour. The event awards NZ$10,000 among the top five elite men and women, and dishes out XTERRA World Championship qualifying slots to the winners of each age group.
