Kaitaia run/walk fees slashed to encourage entries

Fees will be slashed for the Kaitaia Run/Walk. Photo / File

With reduced fees, the hopes for long entry lists are high for the annual Kaitaia Run/Walk.

The next leg of the Sport Northland Run/Walk Series heads to the Far North and organisers wanted to make the event more accessible for the local community.

The fees will be slashed in half for the August 12 race.

Sport Northland chief executive Brent Eastwood said they want to make this event an ever present fixture on the Northland sporting calendar.

"Kaitaia is a targeted community for Sport Northland and we want to firmly establish this event on the Northland calendar in the future and make it as accessible as possible, therefore we are wearing the cost of slicing the entry fees in half to see the impact on entry numbers," he said.

"Our events are easily some of the cheapest in the country anyhow and this will, no doubt, make entries the cheapest in the country for a professionally run event like this.

"Sport Northland doesn't receive any direct funding to put these events on, so the partnership that we have with Ray White is essential to making them happen for our communities."

The Ray White Kaitaia Run/Walk will be the fifth event in the 2018 Sport Northland Run/Walk Series and will allow walkers and runners to have the option of picking either the longer 12.5km route or the shorter 4.6km option.

The start gun will fire for the runners to set off at 9am with the walkers following straight afterwards.

The shorter 4.6km option will finish at the Otere School where free buses will transport the participants back to the Te Ahu Centre, while the 12.5km event will continue around the Church Rd loop to the finish line at the Te Ahu Centre.

Sport Northland is grateful to the Ray White group for not only their support of the Kaitaia event, but also for its involvement in the Kerikeri 5km Run/Walk (part of the ASB Kerikeri Half Marathon) and the major corporate event staged in Whangarei, the Ray White Hatea Loop Challenge.

Ray White Kaitaia director Gary Steed said their sponsorship of the event is targeting at supporting young people.

"We see this sponsorship as an extension to our existing support of Northland youngsters across many sports," he said.

"For us as business owners, parents and community members it's important that we not only step up, nurture and support active participation in our youth - but that we lead from the front.

"At the end of the day it starts with active participation in communities across all ages.

"Sport Northland's core purpose is 'enriching lives through sport' and that resonates strongly with us. We value this partnership with Sport Northland, an organisation whose values of passion, innovation, relationships, and leadership closely align with our own."