Rotorua Bike Festival quickly approaching

Local rider Dirk Peters

The full line-up for the 2015 Rotorua Bike Festival is expected to be finalised by the end of this month.

The third annual Rotorua Bike Festival starts on Friday February 13, just over three months away.

"The programme is filling out nicely with established favourites returning and some exciting new events," said Martin Croft, from Rotorua Events and Venues. "The full line-up won't be finalised till the end of this month, but the ten days will be packed again."

The first two festivals were highly successful and there was a marked growth curve between 2013 and 2014.

"There were just under 5000 entrants over all the events this year and around the same number of spectators," Croft said. "We expect to see an increase on that next February."

The festival has events from across the spectrum of biking including road, BMX and mountain, and unites the strong local community-based clubs that drive the sport in Rotorua.

Participants across all the 30 or so events range from 2 year olds on wooden scoot-along bikes to national and international athletes taking full advantage of glorious summer weather.

The National Mountain Bike Championships will be a feature event of the first weekend with New Zealand titles on the line.

The second weekend is headlined by the Skyline Sprint Warrior and the Giant 2W Gravity Enduro, which both sold out a month before race day in 2014. For the road cyclists, there will be the opportunity to circumnavigate Lake Rotorua as part of Bike the Lake.

In between, there is a full range of events that will appeal to beginners right up to the most adventurous and experienced riders.

"Sport Bay of Plenty have joined us as partners to run the community events," Croft said. "Getting people on bikes, sometimes for the first time, is at the heart of the festival."

All the events are open to enter, some are free, others are just a gold coin donation and all are open to spectators.