|
 The Great Barrier
Island Wharf to Wharf Marathon begins at Port FitzRoy wharf and finishes at Tryphena
wharf.
Participant will experience rugged native bush,
kauri, nikau, manuka, fern and some of the most unspoilt native
forest
left in New Zealand. Reaching the heights there are expansive
views over white sandy beaches and across the ocean to an undisturbed horizon
as well as green farmland, and
picturesque settlements dotted around beautiful harbours.
CLICK HERE
for 2010 Sponsors & 2009 Photographs
Description of the course by Aaron Carter of
Total Sport who ran in
the 2009 event.
For
the uninitiated MTB stands for Mountain Bike.
Km’s 0 – 3 Undulating gravel road (along Kaiaraara Bay
Rd) with nice views to the water, more up than down. This bit
reminded me of the Colville Connection MTB course, held in the
Coromandel.
Km’s 3 – 16.5 Wide 4WD track (known as Forest Rd), with
some technical bits, but over all run-able. 90% of the time, more
up than down with some pretty solid and lengthy climbs. This bit
was “Waitakere Ranges, the wide track sections that is, meets the 42
Traverse” (National Park).
Km’s 16.5 – 21.5 This bit was without a doubt the “oh my
goodness” section! A short, but sharp climb, followed by about 4km
of unbelievable trail goodness – as good as anything I’ve seen or
done that I can remember. The closest we got to single track (the
MTB’ers with any energy left would have been loving it), with some
technical bits, boardwalks and views from out of this world – magic
stuff!!
Km’s 21.5 – 40.6 Road, road and road. As far as a road
section goes, this was pretty good. A couple of reasonable climbs
and one good one (started at the “10km to go point”) that went for a
good 2.5km. A lot of dropping in and out of very scenic bays with a
flat 1km to the finish at the Tryphena wharf.
Event distance;
40.6km (according to Malcolm, our supremely reliable GPS unit)
Vertical metres climbed;
1100
Number entered
(across all
categories); 101
My average heart rate;
144 (My max is
about 190), so that’s a 76% of MHR
My moving time; total
– 4 hours 50
minutes
Trail section (21.5km) - 3 hours
Road section (19.1km) – 1hour 50 minutes
Registration forms
and detailed information
Click Here
For any other queries please use the contact form.
2009
Full Report from Aaron Carter of TotalSport
(pdf 413Kb)
2009 Blogs:
The Wharf to Wharf Race
Aotea.Org
Nikki Kaye MP
More
About Great
Barrier Island
| Detailed Map |
Island Photos |
Magazine Articles about Great Barrier | 
Great
Barrier Airlines