$700,000 cash boost thanks to IronMaori

Hawke's Bay's popular IronMaori Half-Ironman is being praised for injecting $700,000 into the local economy.

A recent study commissioned by Sport Hawke's Bay and undertaken by Auckland based research company Covec, showed the event was an economic boon for the region and attracted 2744 visitors.

The event was held in December last year with a full entrant capacity of 1500.

Visitors stayed on average 2.55 nights and spent $577,000 on accommodation, food and beverages.

Sport Hawke's Bay commercial manager Kevin Murphy said the study would be used in the ongoing development of the region's events strategy, led by Hawke's Bay Tourism. "The outcome is significant and proves that sport events are a key economic driver for the region," Mr Murphy said.

The study, which surveyed 544 people, also revealed that 81 per cent of entrants intended on returning to compete later this year.

The event is run by Te Timatanga Ararau Trust led by Heather Skipworth, Missy Mackey and Lee Grace. The vision of the trust was to improve the health and well-being of Maori people so it is good to see that IronMaori is having a positive financial impact for the region as well.

Covec's Shane Vuletich said past event evaluations had typically understated the region's investment in events, and had therefore overstated the returns on regional investment. "Our post-event evaluations are based on large-sample surveys of event attendees and comprehensive assessments of regional investment," Mr Vuletich said.

The study also highlighted the "national flavour" of the event with 63 per cent of participants travelling from outside the region.