Town benefits from Kepler race

Nearly $250,000 has been donated back to the Te Anau community through the fundraising efforts of the Kepler Challenge.

Considered one of the best events on the New Zealand trail running calendar, the annual 60km mountain race around Fiordland’s famous Kepler track has been running since 1988.

Kepler Challenge organising committee chairman Steve Norris said giving back to the community was a key component of the event, which also generated significant revenue for businesses in the northern Southland town.

‘‘It adds up over the years, it’s a phenomenal amount of money,’’ he said.

The other day Norris was out walking the dog and ran across the local Southern Stars early childhood centre, who had benefited from wet weather gear purchased with a donation from the Kepler.

Fiordland Kindergarten, Te Anau Cycling Inc, Scouts Te Anau, Te Anau Community Bus and the Fiordland swimming pool are all recent recipients of fundraising.

Since 2006, the Kepler Challenge committee has partnered with the Department of Conservation to establish and maintain stoat traps at 200m intervals around the length of the 60km track as part of the Birdsong Project.

Spirit of the Kepler

The Spirit of the Kepler award was established in 2015 in honour of committee member Caroline Carter, who helped formalise the Kepler Challenge Trust.

With a background as a geography teacher and having worked for DOC’s public relations department, Caroline was passionate about the community feel of the Kepler Challenge and the fact that it was truly a ‘‘village’’ event.

An active committee member, she led the charge to establish the Kepler trapping programme in 2006. Husband, John, and son, Jasper, are still very much involved in the event.

The Spirit of the Kepler award (usually a free entry into the race the following year) is given each year to a person who displays the true spirit of the Kepler – helping someone out.

A chair built after Caroline’s death sits looking over Lake Te Anau at the Te Anau Bird park and has ‘‘always be kinder than necessary’’ engraved on it.

The 2019 Kepler Challenge gets under way from the Lake Te Anau control gates at 6am on Saturday, with the 27km Luxmore Grunt companion event beginning an hour later from the same spot.