Organisers of the Southland Summer Challenge in New Zealand are hoping a date change will boost numbers for this year’s event, which offers athletes a warm-up for marquee national races – as the NZ southern hemisphere season gets under way.
The annual event incorporates five race options – a 76.5 Challenge, Coast to Coast build up, sprint triathlon, duathlon and 10K run – and has traditionally been held in Gore in January.
This year it will instead be held on 10 December and organisers are confident the move will be a positive one. Southland Triathlon and Multisport Club spokesman Brendon McDermott said the change would be a much better fit for those training for events such as Challenge Wanaka and the Speights Coast to Coast.
“We really felt December was a better time to be staging an event like this and it is great to be able to give people a decent race before Christmas,” he said.
“Early December is a good time for those competitors who are training for other events to have a solid hit out on what is traditionally a really good course.”
The event is set just outside of Gore, near the Heartland Hotel Croydon, and makes use of the Mataura River – for the kayak leg of the Coast to Coast Build Up – and the man-made lake – for the swim leg of the 76.5 Challenge and the sprint triathlon.
McDermott is training for Challenge Wanaka’s half iron distance event, which will be held in January and knows all too well the importance of training in a race environment.
While he has been charged with organising the event in the past, this year he will be on the start line – saying the opportunity for race practice was too good to pass up.
“The Southland Summer Challenge is a great event to get some race training in, regardless of what event you are aiming for,” he said.
“You can do all the training you like on your own, but when you’re out there racing against other competitors it can be a different story. Southerners usually make good use of this as a warm-up race option and we’re confident that, with the date change, the timing of the event will suit a lot more people this year.”
The setting and the variety of events on offer means the Southland Summer Challenge attracts a wide range of competitors from throughout southern New Zealand, and high profile New Zealand athletes including Richard Ussher and Dougal Allan have competed in the past.
While the event is expected to again include a high quality line-up across all events, McDermott said the Southland Summer Challenge catered to a variety of fitness levels and abilities.
“The nature of the Southland Summer Challenge – and that we offer five different events on one day – means there is something there for people of all abilities. We also offer team and individual options in every race, apart from the 10km run, so that we really do cater for everyone,” he said.
The Southland Summer Challenge is supported by Sport Southland, the Mataura Licensing Trust and the National Bank.
