‘KUROW 1000KM’ IS GO!

These are uncertain times. Covid-19 wiped out all remaining rounds of the 2020 JG Civil Offroad Racing Championship, the NZ Endurance Championship was collateral damage, and the national Short Course title is also gone.

With racers now planning for 2021, news comes of the Otago Offroad Racing Club’s bid to run a 1000 km race at Kurow in the Waitaki Valley. Though the club is small and members live across the region, offers of help from northern and southern racers are flooding in, and businesses are already offering sponsorships.

The massive farm course would take in tracks already set in place on Slim and Janina Slee’s farm along with a neighbouring property that has already been track-checked.

The Slee property has been used for club and national championship endurance and short course events for several years now, and features camping areas for the many teams and spectators who want to stay at the track during the event.

The last 1000 km race was run two years ago on a forest block near Lichfield in the Waikato. It was abandoned on the second day after consistent heavy rain and sleet turned a narrow, slow track to impassable mud.