Little interest in Cateye Moonride

Rotorua's inaugural Bike Festival has hit a minor speedbump with the postponement of the Cateye Moonride because of a lack of entries.

Cateye Moonride organiser Murray Fleming said he was very disappointed he had to postpone the event, scheduled for February 8 and 9, after receiving only 37 team entries.

"The bottom line is we didn't get the entries. With three weeks to go we had 37 teams registered, with three weeks to go for last year's event we had about 220-230 entries."

Mr Fleming asked teams that did not enter to fill out a survey to find out why they were not coming. "It was mainly down to timing, they prefer to have it in the autumn period."

Mr Fleming said he had moved the event back to the weekend of May 18, saying full details would soon be made public, including a possible change of venue.

The Moonride has been running for 18 years this year. It was initially based at Arawa Park Racecourse and for the 10 years after that at Waipa, south of Rotorua, where teams and individuals set up camp. Last year, the event was moved to Tui Ridge Park. "A lot of work goes into an event like this ... but we have listened to what our clients want."

Rotorua Events and Venues manager Martin Croft said organisers were also disappointed but, were still very excited about the other 24 cycling events on offer during the 10-day festival.

"The first weekend, where Moonride was positioned, is still packed with a variety of events for people to get involved with.

"One that will be fun to watch will be the Novotel Inner City Criterium being held in and around Eat Streat, starting and finishing in front of the Novotel.

"The final event that day will be a parade of bikes where we are encouraging kids and adults to come dressed up to win prizes."

Visit www.rotoruabikefestival.com