Multisport: Mount spectacular has 'potential'

The Port of Tauranga Half, beginning at 6.15am tomorrow, is the main event in the Mount Festival of Multisport. Photo / File

The first Mount Festival of Multisport promises three days of spectacular sport at Mount Maunganui, beginning today.

The festival features well-established multisport events such as the Port of Tauranga Half and the Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon, plus other events catering for a wide range of athletic abilities and ages.

New events are the Virus NZ Tag Team champs, which has teams completing a short-distance swim, bike and run, and the Jetts Dash for Cash tonight on Maunganui Rd.

The TRI NZ Short Course race and the Mauao Fun Run around and up the mountain have attracted impressively large numbers of entrants.

Event director Dave Mee says the aim is to create a festival of events and activity at one of New Zealand's most popular holiday destinations.

"There is something to suit everyone from the international fields in the Port of Tauranga Half and King & Queen of Mauao Paddle events, to the Virus NZ Tag Team champs, the Jetts Dash for Cash, the Weet-Bix TRYathlon for the kids or for those who just want to soak it up and take it all in," Mee said.

"Plus there is the Bay of Plenty Times NZ Beach Volleyball Championships on the main beach.

"The Mount is the perfect place and we believe the Mount Festival can develop in the future to rival similar events such as the Noosa Tri Festival (held in Queensland) and attract thousands of visitors from around New Zealand and the world."

-The Mount Festival of Multisport is not the only sporting event over the next three days.

Today, the Tauranga Racecourse hosts the Crockford Real Estate Hooves Blues & BBQs and the Blueseventy Splash and Dash ocean swim takes place at Pilot Bay from 12.30pm. Tomorrow, the Bay Engineers Supplies Provincial Sevens tournament is at Blake Park from 10am-6pm, while the Bay of Plenty senior men's cricket team are in action at Bay Oval against Poverty Bay on Sunday.