Northland news in brief: Whangārei to host National One Day Eventing Champs; and Food & Wine Fest canned

The National One Day Eventing Champs are being held at Whangārei's Barge Showgrounds, above, in April.

Four-star cross-country track for National One Day Eventing Champs

Northland is getting set to host the National One Day Eventing Champs on April 16 and 17 and has enlisted the help of a world-class course designer.
Mike Etherington-Smith was commissioned by the Eventing Northland Committee and flew from the UK to visit Barge Showgrounds in 2019 with the job of designing a new four-star cross-country track.
His visit to Whangārei was pre-Covid and included making a detailed design and drawing for each jump so he could continue his part in putting together this world-class track being created especially for the event. With the Covid pandemic closing our borders the baton of his vision has been passed to experienced Auckland cross-country course designer Chris Ross.
There has not been a four-star level cross-country track in Northland since 2001.

Red light for Northland's newest event

It was to be Northland's newest event, but in the end, it lasted three days.
With Northland joining the rest of the country in the orange light setting last Friday, the inaugural Northland Food & Wine Festival was immediately organised for next Sunday.
Jacman Entertainment, which had to cancel the Bay of Islands Music Festival planned for January 29 because of Covid uncertainty, organised the Northland Food & Wine Festival for Sunday, January 30.
But with the whole country going back into the red light on Sunday night, promoter Jackie Sanders said it has sadly had to be cancelled too.
Sanders said everyone has been refunded and she will now wait and see if it can be rearranged for later in the year.

Variation to bail conditions granted

A man charged with various drug offences, including allowing his premises to be used as a "P" lab, made a brief appearance in Whāngarei District Court, seeking a variation to his bail conditions.
Ian McLeod, 52, previously pleaded not guilty to allowing his premises to be used for the production of methamphetamine, three counts of possessing equipment or precursory substances for the production of meth, and a charge of unlawfully carrying or possessing a firearm.
Judge Gene Tomlinson granted the variation but warned McLeod any non-compliance with the conditions of it would likely see him remanded into custody.
McLeod's next scheduled court appearance on the charges is a Crown case review hearing on February 3.

Injured beachgoer helped by lifeguards at Ocean Beach

Whangārei Heads lifeguards helped a person who dislocated their shoulder at Ocean Beach on Sunday.
The lifeguards managed a person with a dislocated shoulder until the patient was taken to hospital via ambulance.
There were no other incidents reported from Northland's surf beaches on Sunday.

Driver critical after car ploughs into power pole

A person has been critically injured after their car ploughed into a power pole in Dargaville. Senior Sergeant Brian Swann, of Northland Police, said the driver was the only person in the car when it crashed into a power pole on Ranfurly St around 6.50am yesterday. When emergency services arrived they discovered the driver unconscious and immediately began CPR. A St John spokeswoman said the person had been transported by ambulance to Dargaville Hospital in a critical condition. The Serious Crash Unit from Northland Police attended the scene. Swann said the cause of the crash was currently unknown.