Mountain Biking: Winter series to warm good cause

Just because it's winter doesn't mean you can't get your race face on.

The first round of the Galaxy Travel Nduro Winter MTB series clicks into gear this Sunday, July 7.

The three-race series has been running for a decade and has become a well-established part of the Rotorua landscape.

Dean Watson set up Nduro Events in the early 2000s. He's living in Ireland now running a busy, successful event timing business and he's also enjoying being a dad. Dean and his wife, Marieanne, celebrated their son, Tadgh's first birthday last week.

Rawiri Bhana has worked on a lot of events in Rotorua including Nduros. When the chance to buy the company came up a couple of years ago, he jumped at it. Ra's a big man with a big heart and one of those steady hands who keeps events ticking along.

Since taking over Nduro he's stepped more into the limelight and on to the microphone.

Even if you're not racing, listening to his informed and often funny commentaries are worth turning up for. This included the Skyline Sprint Warrior and National Mountain Bike Series during the Rotorua Bike Festival in February.

His knowledge about riders, the environment and venues and the culture of our city added up to a rich flow of information.

Ra also helped the Rotorua Singlespeed Society with pre-event and raceday direction for the 2013 Pig & Whistle New Zealand Singlespeed Championships at Anzac Weekend. He was as entertaining as ever and wearing a Mexican wrestler's mask was a nice touch.

It's more serious business this weekend. Round one of the winter series has 15km, 30km or 45km options. This means riders from relative newbies to hard-core racers can enjoy the challenge on Whakarewarewa Forest's trail network.

Race one HQ is at the Green Lake/Rotokakahi car park.

Ra is promising something different for the mid and long courses to mix it all up.

Race two is on Sunday, August 4 and the finale will be on Sunday, September 1.

You can enter online at n-duro.co.nz. More information and race maps will be on the website.

This year Ra is giving a bit more back.

"We will be donating a percentage from each individual entry to a cause, sometimes to a charity, sometimes to an individual and sometimes to a group," he says. "So feel good while you're out there slogging it out that you've done something to benefit your community at the same time."

Another event that has fundraising at its core is Descend Rotorua's Dawn2 Dusk on Saturday, July 13. Money raised will help local riders. Louis Hamilton and Lawrence Cawte, get to the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in South Africa, this year.

Dawn2 Dusk isn't just for downhillers. Each rider or team must complete three runs down the jumps, corners and national DH trails and one run down Billy T to Moonshine and one run down Hot X Buns. Talented trail riders can shine, with the most runs from dawn to dusk taking top step on the podium.

More information: facebook.com/descend.rotorua and online entry: descenddh.com