Invercargill rider goes all out to win Tuatara 1000
Riding 1073km for your 30th birthday doesn’t sound like much fun, but for Invercargill’s Matt Zenovich it was exactly what he wanted to do.
Finishing the Tuatara 1000 on his birthday with a course record time made it all worthwhile.
He finished the race that goes through off-road tracks throughout Otago and Southland in 56.5 hours, three hours quicker than the old record.
Zenovich managed that time on the back of plenty of sugary treats and little sleep, and was two hours ahead of the next competitor.
This was his third crack at the event since it started in 2021, and his first win, having finished second in his first effort and then being forced out by injury second time out.
“It was as expected. About as tough as 1000 kilometres on a bike could be. The first day was very hit and miss with the weather, got about 150 kilometres in before it rained and then it didn’t stop for 10 hours straight.”
Zenovich is not a man who likes to party, so a bike packing race sounded a much better option.
“It actually was a present to myself for my birthday. The first year it literally was a present to myself.
“I was inspired by what riders did in the first year and that made me want to give it a crack so I bought a gravel bike.”
At Slope Point, Zenovich didn’t think he’d make it to the finish.
“I was done. I said to myself that’s it. I was ready to pack it in. I can’t do this any more, still hadn’t slept. I carried on and I got to the cafe at Fortrose, had a feed and a coffee and checked the tracker and the guy ahead wasn’t that far in front. So I carried on.”
A couple of Subways at Queens Park in Invercargill and a quick visit from family saw him re-energised and ready for the final push.
“At times I started to see a few things. I was having visions. I would black out and couldn’t see things apart from a steaming barbecue. I stopped on the Te Anau trail and leaned against a tree and managed to get 10 minutes sleep and from then on was OK.”
Zenovich said he wouldn’t be doing the race like that again.
“If I do it, it’s for fun with mates or it’s the shorter distances.”
Tuatara 1000 creator Andy Chalmers said the bike-packing event was started to help people visit different parts of Southland and Otago.
“A friend of mine gave me the idea to starting something up and, while I was working from home at the time because of Covid-19, I thought about a bike packing race and thought we could do something pretty cool that would show off a different perspective of Southland and get people interested in riding it.
“I sussed out all the cool spots from my childhood, linked them together and here we go.”
In the four years it’s been running, numbers have varied.
“We have a gentle agreement in the bikepacking community that we start together on the last Saturday in February. Some are keen to see how fast they can go and push their limits, while most of them are out there to enjoy the journey.”
There is the 1073km ride, the 500km ride and there’s now a 320km loop for the more novice group.
The race started and finished at the Trout in Gore, although in the first year they started and finished in Queens Park and every year they ride past where the tuatara are, which was where the event name came from.
“I wanted an iconic name so that’s why I went for the tuatara. It’s a bit more exciting than the trout.”
The event takes riders along the coast as much as possible, offering the best sights of Southland, such as Slope Point, Riverton, the Catlins, Manapouri and Te Anau.