Tokoroa impresses cyclists
Tokoroa proved such a good host for two rounds of The Team Championship cycling series that it’ll return next year.
Race director Stephen Cox gave a break down of the series, which took place from October 2015 through to April 2016, during the South Waikato District Council’s June meeting on Thursday.
Round three and the final of the team road race series, which also saw rounds held in Te Awamutu, Hamilton, Cambridge, and Pokeno, were held in Tokoroa in December and April.
Cox said numbers were high for both with the December round attracting around 290 competitors and the final 312.
There were 54 teams entered across the various grades from top to lower level abilities.
The South Waikato Sport and Events Centre in Mossop Rd was used as the base for the event and Cox said he received nothing but
‘‘It was certainly a surprise to some that there was a venue of that standard here.’’
positive feedback about it.
‘‘People are always quick to criticise and slow to be complimentary but there were a lot of comments about how good a venue it was,’’ he said.
‘‘It was certainly a surprise to some that there was a venue of that standard here.’’
‘‘It is by far the best we use throughout the six rounds.’’
He said participants were also impressed by South Waikato mayor Neil Sinclair and chief executive Craig Hobbs’ support of the event.
‘‘Craig and Neil were down for the third round and the mayor also come down for the final and spoke which was really valuable and important to us. It is not something we get very often at events,’’ he said.
Cox said the event also brought wider benefits to the district.
‘‘For the final we had between 80 to 100 people staying within the region.
‘‘ We were down the day before setting up and I saw one motel which was pretty much full with cycling cars,’’ he said.
‘‘On the final day I worked an hour after everyone had gone and when we left and went through Tirau at a minimum I saw 12 cars with bikes on still there because people had stopped for coffee and afternoon tea so there were definitely benefits.’’
He said next year’s event will be similar with the third round in December and the final in the last week of March.