Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Mountain bikers set for hours on the trails during Moonride

David Beck
By David Beck
Multimedia sports journalist·Rotorua Daily Post·
8 Mar, 2018 03:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rachael Taylor flies through the Whakarewarewa Forest for the New Zealand Air Force team at a previous Moonride. Photo / Supplied

Rachael Taylor flies through the Whakarewarewa Forest for the New Zealand Air Force team at a previous Moonride. Photo / Supplied

Hundreds of mountain bikers will leave Rotorua with an intimate knowledge of some of the Whakarewarewa Forest trails after competing in the Craigs Investment Partners Moonride.

Teams of two to five people, as well as some brave solo riders, will tackle either the six-hour or 12-hour races during the event based at the Waipa Mountain Bike Park tomorrow.Riders take turns riding laps on an 8km circuit designed to cater for all abilities. The course will weave among the team campsites and through trails such as Tahi and Creek, Pig Track, Turkish, Arapa, Rock Drop and Rock Drop in reverse.

The 24-hour race has been cancelled this year due to a lack of entries.

Event Promotions marketing manager Aimee Gregory said more than 100 teams had entered overall.

"It's done on how many laps are completed. What's really exciting is when you get to that last hour and teams really plot out who their best riders are to get in as many laps as possible.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is quite competitive, we have different grades for men, women, mixed, junior, so you've got quite a level playing field in each. We have results displayed throughout the day, pretty much every hour, and teams are always checking how they're doing and pushing for top spot."

Andrew Adam in action for the New Zealand Air Force team at a previous Moonride event in Rotorua. Photo / Supplied
Andrew Adam in action for the New Zealand Air Force team at a previous Moonride event in Rotorua. Photo / Supplied

Gregory said there was a lot of strategy involved in choosing when to switch riders.

"It depends how many are in your team - the amazing thing is sometimes a team of two will beat a team of five. It's really interesting."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The event is in its 24th year, making it one of the longest-running mountain biking events in New Zealand.

"There's a lot of history in it, it's been around for a long time and it's a well-known event. This year, for the first time in a long time, the weather is looking outstanding.

"It's an electric atmosphere, we'll have music pumping and everyone chilling in their campsites. It's really social."

The New Zealand Air Force enter a team in the Moonride every year and their team manager Andrew Adam said it was an event he always looked forward to.

Discover more

Rotorua gears up for Crankworx visitors

02 Mar 06:00 PM

Dream half marathon debut for Cate

04 Mar 03:22 AM

Children able to get among action at Rotorua's Kidsworx

08 Mar 06:00 PM

Annual duathlon keeps kids active

06 Mar 12:01 AM

"I've been involved for the last seven or eight years. It's a great time with your mates, a social event and we just enjoy it."

Adam said the team were usually relatively relaxed about the racing aspect of the event, but finished second in the 12-hour last year.

"I'm more of a social rider, but I know the rest of my team are quite competitive so it will be interesting this year to see if we can go one better than second place.

"To be honest there's not a lot of strategy involved for us. Whoever draws the short straw goes first and we just take it from there doing a lap each, see how everyone is feeling."

Both the six-hour and 12-hour Moonride events start at 10am.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Rotorua Daily Post

Five Steamers players making waves in the Māori All Blacks

03 Jul 10:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'It’s a big deal': Young gamers chase international esports glory

30 Jun 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

25 Jun 07:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Five Steamers players making waves in the Māori All Blacks

Five Steamers players making waves in the Māori All Blacks

03 Jul 10:00 PM

The Māori All Blacks face Scotland in Whangārei on Saturday.

'It’s a big deal': Young gamers chase international esports glory

'It’s a big deal': Young gamers chase international esports glory

30 Jun 06:00 PM
'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

25 Jun 07:00 PM
Small but mighty: Kyro gets set for Tai Mitchell challenge

Small but mighty: Kyro gets set for Tai Mitchell challenge

24 Jun 09:26 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP