Kids wheel their way around Whanganui’s Kowhai Park for first Awa Cross event

175 kids made their way around Kowhai Park in the first Awa Cross event. Riders (L - R): Elsie Shaw, Elio Hurtado, Charlie Rose, Ollie Brunt. Photo / Gemma Bartley

The first edition of Whanganui’s Awa Cross went down a treat with participants and spectators, with 175 children taking part.

The cyclocross event, a partnership between Cycling Whanganui and the Whanganui Mountain Bike Club, was held in Kowhai Park.

Cyclesport New Zealand director Cath Cheatley, who organised the event, said it was a rousing success.

“It was an awesome, awesome afternoon ... we managed to get it all in before the rain came and [there were] lots of happy kids,” Cheatley said.

Kids aged from less than five all the way up to 13 and over took to the course, lapping around the riverfront area next to the children’s playground.

There were not only local riders, with families from Feilding and Palmerston North coming to town for the event.

Cheatley said the event was also a hit with spectators, especially the under-fives, who had their parents running alongside them.

“Not sure who was more tired at the end.”

Kids taking part were put into age groups for those aged five to eight, those aged nine to 12 and those aged 13 and over, with the five to eight age group event being so popular, organisers had to split the group into two.

Organisers wanted to run the first event in Kowhai Park as it was somewhere central to the city, which paid off with the big turnout, Cheatley said.

“We wanted to have it somewhere really local and really visible. We had a lot of park-goers who were able to walk over the bank and get really close to the action.”

Cyclocross is traditionally a winter sport and, with the success of the first event, Cheatley said the organisers were looking into holding a series of events across the winter in different locations around Whanganui.

“We can take it out to different suburbs and engage different people,” she said.

She thanked the local businesses that supported the event and the volunteers who made sure it all ran smoothly.