Feb 4th, 10. Over 1600 recreational riders took on the Yarrows Taranaki Cycling Challenge last weekend where glorious weather conditions allowed for some very fast times.

Over 1600 riders turned up for the 150km challenge in sunny and calm conditions ©Kylee Brown

The Solo (recreational ride) was won by Scott Estcourt of Hastings in a time of 3h52m36s for the 150km course through magnificent mountain and rural scenery.

The riders passed through twelve Taranaki townships and started and finished in New Plymouth.

"We have received great feedback about how safe people felt on the course this year with on course marshals and motorbike marshals doing a great job," Brown said.

In true Taranaki style, rugby wasn't far from mind with a battle of the leagues in the team's event.  

Rugby League Kevin Tamati's team gained bragging rights over Buck Shelford's Rugby Clash of the Codes team by 18 mins with Rugby League finishing 7th in a time of 5h27m and Rugby 17th in a time of 5h45m.

As reported earlier in the week, in the elite category Serena Sheridan won in a time of 4h07m34s, 8m ahead of her nearest rival.  Matthew Gorter beat out Brett Tivers in the final sprint to win the men's race in 3h53m33s.

Next year's Yarrows Taranaki Cycling Challenge will be held on Jan 29th 2011.

Throughout 2010 RoadCycling.co.nz is aiming to bring you stories from recreational riders to add to our reports and results from the elite riders.  Thanks to Adrian and Matt from Kapiti for kicking this off, they both had very successful rides in Taranaki.

Matt's story

The Taranaki ride crept its way up on me this year way too fast, and thanks to the weather over Christmas I was well under prepared for it having only done one ride of 100km since Taupo.

I was hoping for the day to be a whole bunch cooler than last year, however this was not to be, and on the start line it was obvious that the day was going to be over 30 again.

The ride itself actually turned out better than I could have planned with bunches working together well, and through this and making the most of the drink stations (I went through 6 bottles), I arrived home over an hour faster than last year!

The ride was exceptionally well organised, with lots of marshals and great motorcycle escorts. Coming back to free food & beer and a live band was great too, although perhaps the best touch for me was the sprinkler system set up as a make shift shower that was well enjoyed by many people.

The party atmosphere carried on past the prize giving and on back to the motel. Great ride, Great day, Great mates. Bring on the Kapiti Cycle Challenge --- that's my next one.

Adrian's story

Since Taupo I've had time to get used to the 210mm cranks and it's meant an amazing jump in performance for me. Which has made me want to ride more - which has started off a nice little vicious circle! Six months ago I was riding in Break 3 - but no longer.

The form had been good - putting in some good long rides with the club - where I felt strong. And I knew that Taranaki's profile would suit my 123kgs a bit better than most.  So I figured - what the hell - I'll line up on the start in the first group and see what happens.

My plan was to push hard to get through the first 30 odd kms of rolling hills to Okato and hopefully it would calm down for the smoother ride down to Opunake. It turned out just like that. I was starting to feel the pinch coming into Okato but hung on OK. It helped that the bunch was still big - around 70 I guess.

The next bit was the long false flat climb up to Eltham. I thought if the pace went on this would be the spot where I could come unstuck. But the pace stayed pretty steady and I hung on fine, although quite a few drifted off the back on this section.

Apart from running out of water at Inglewood the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. The run from Eltham to the finish was quick but I stuck to the back of the group without too many problems.  I even hung in there on the last nasty little climb coming into New Plymouth, which I was a bit worried about before the event.

So I finished the day like I started it - at the back of the lead group (where I'd been all day). I stopped the clock in 3:52:49! (not a bad birthday present!) It turned out this time was quicker than the Elite men's race which started after us. How cool is that!

I'd started the ride twice before. Last time I had to pull out because the seattube snapped! And the time before that I clocked a 5:34 - which I was hugely impressed with and thought I'd be hard pressed to beat!

I love my new bike!

This weekend's fun ride: Ruapehu Cycle Classic, 160km

If you would like to share your funride experience after this event (around 150 words), please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

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