Feilding Festival of Cycling Update
When the Fitzherbert Lions made the tough decision to put the Tour de Manawatu in to recess, there was a lot a disappointment voiced among local cyclists, not only had we lost another local cycling event, and one that had been running for some time, but we had lost our best warm up for the Lake Taupo Cycling Challenge – always taking place 3-4 weeks out from Taupo, every year it was a great opportunity to get some race km’s in your legs before starting to taper.
The Bike Manawatu Board were just as disappointed, and while we’d love to be able to run a similar event, we just don’t have the resources – our 3 big events are the Novice Tour, the Manfeild 6 hour and the Joe Allen Classic/Feilding Festival of Cycling – so we put our thinking caps on, and have come up with what we think is the best solution for local riders – we have shifted the Joe Allen Classic/Feilding Festival of Cycling Sunday November 10 – this is 3 weeks out from Taupo, so an ideal time to do one last final effort to consolidate all your training. We’re lucky to have secured the support of Rosebowl Bakery & Cafe as our registration and prize giving venue, which was a huge success last year. But we do ask that all entrants make themselves familiar with their request to park at the rear of their premises rather than in the front car park. We’ve also made another big change, the course for the recreational ride is now the same as the Joe Allen Classic and runs from Feilding to Apiti and back to Feilding. We’re excited to announce that entries are now open, so please – get in behind our event to ensure that we can keep a local race and recreational ride going in the Manawatu.
