Hawera is the ‘‘best in New Zealand’’
The country’s touring family race is returning to Hawera due to the great support and interest from the community.
The XRACE was started five years ago by Shane Hooks.
‘‘If you look at the population base of Hawera and the field space, we’re getting around that 600 mark for participation, that’s crazy,’’ he said.
‘‘Christchurch has only just cracked 1000. They have 10 times the population of you guys, and that’s why we always come back.’’
Hooks, who is the series producer, said the Hawera XRACE had such a ‘‘neat vibe’’ to it.
He thanked the South Taranaki District Council events team and said they were the best in New Zealand.
‘‘We produce in 13 towns around New Zealand they’re the most supportive council we deal with out of all of them,’’ he said. ‘‘If we need something, they solve it. If we’ve got a problem they fix it. That’s why we’re in Hawera, it’s that strong relationship.’’
The XRACE travels around New Zealand annually as a national series. There are 13 races from Whangarei to Christchurch.
The competing teams of two, which consist of a child between 6-14 and an adult, are faced with 10 challenges. ‘‘The reality is it’s an absolute bonding experience because the teams are usually a parent and child,’’ he said. ’’It’s kind of like the Amazing Race but at a start line with 300 families at once.’’
Hooks regularly gained compliments and the best he’d received was from a woman in Napier after watching her husband and son in an XRACE dance challenge.
‘‘She just quietly walks up to me and says ‘by the way, my husband’s danced more in the last week with his son than with me in 12 years of my marriage’,’’ Hooks laughed.
‘‘That one sentence sums up everything we’re trying to do.’’
Hooks often gets feedback from parents who have learnt so much about their children in the time period of the race, and visa versa.
‘‘Kids are having to learn to lose because it’s not simple to win this race, there’s ten little tricks that they’ve got to try to solve faster than anyone else,’’ he said.
The Hawera XRACE is on March 12 at the TSB Hub and although online registrations have closed, teams can register on the day if they wish to compete.