My wife and I are planning on racing IM NZ in 2015. We did Cairns in 2013 and actually loved the travel to another part of the world to race. We are from AL, USA.
Anyone raced NZ before and have any words of wisdom, or advice, concerns related to the race or travel to Taupo. I’ve seen comments about poor roads, and concerns about unpredictable weather. What else is out there of a concern for someone from the US should be weary?
Any best practice ideas, or recommendations on travel or lodging/food/attractions while in NZ? We’ll be there approx. 2 weeks…
my goodness, i’ve done it 6 times and never found any of the things listed as worries. the road is not as smooth as many of our roads, but i found it fine.
the race management is terrific, taupo is very, very easy to navigate, you can get a place to stay through their city information centre, and so forth. i’ve always flown in to aukland and rented a car there and driven down.
this is a wonderful race and i hope you go and enjoy it and the people as much as i have.
peggy
Any best practice ideas, or recommendations on travel or lodging/food/attractions while in NZ? We’ll be there approx. 2 weeks…
Rotorua (less than an hour away from Taupo) and Taupo are quite tourist friendly. Lots of outdoors stuff happening so have a look at those links to see if anything appeals.
Taupo course has heavy chipseal so it’s slow and a bit jarring, but not bad in the sense of potholes or puncture risks.
As for food - make sure you eat lots of Vegemite and drink L&P.
Yes, chipseal roads. On race day, the fast line is where the cars have worn down the chip. Wouldn’t ride that line with traffic on a training day, though
It’s a small island in the middle of the ocean, so the weather is unpredictable. The sun is super strong. When it’s out.
You’ve been to Oz so hopefully you’ve already learned how to drive a tiny manual rental car on the wrong side of the road.
Eat well! You’re from Alabama, so you’re obviously not a vegetarian or gluten free :P, but if you are, most menus have items specifically designated as such so it’s easy to get by. Two words: lamb shanks.
Lots of stuff is surprisingly expensive there (gels, CO2, ibuprofen, etc., and god forbid you need to buy new running shoes), so on one hand, you want to take it all with you, but on the other hand, this trip is already costing you $10k, so maybe you can just get all the small stuff there. Everything is available; it’s not the hinterlands.
If you are coming all the way to NZ, I´d recommend doing challenge Wanaka. Amazing setting, great race, not as much people as IM NZ.
And it is a VERY tough course.
