Written by Jason Reid
Last year, (2020) after completing the Whaka 100 whilst lying on the ground, still cramping, I was asked what I thought. My answer was, "I'll never f***ing do that again!". Two days later I signed up to do the Whaka Miler. Ever fancied finding some other awesome mountain bikers to ride with? What about joining an organised mountain bike group? In this week’s rider series we spoke to Megan Costello who has done just that!
Recently we’ve been doing a lot of research into ebiking, the benefits of ebiking, and speaking to our ebiking participants themselves. In this week’s rider stories we’ve been speaking to Heather Lodge who, not only rides an ebike, but also has four members of her family entering this year’s Whaka 100!
First up, how awesome is it that Heather has four members from one household all taking part in the Whaka 100?! Here at the Whaka 100 we’re all about getting as many people at all stages, all ages and all abilities to take part. In Heather’s case, her household has Les (100 Miler), Jacob (50km), Heather (25km) and youngest Zach (Kids 5km). Of course, not forgetting Ryan who is coming to the event as the family cheerleader (or will be there to capture the Rosebank Creek excitement)! In this week’s Rider Series, we caught up with Lara and Robert Comeskey - a father and daughter duo entering the Sotheby’s International Realty New Zealand Whaka 50 for the first time. Lara was also the youngest ever female Karapoti Classic finisher - how awesome!
Even though they’re both from Wellington, Lara, aged 14, actually started mountain biking in the Rotorua Redwoods - training for the Whaka from the young age of 6 (even if she didn’t know it then)! Falling in love with “Dipper and it’s smooth, flowing rollers”, Lara went on to enroll in WORD in Wellington aged 7 and still rides with the organisation. Seven years on, Lara’s dad Robert might be chasing her down the trails rather than the other way round but they still ride and race together around Wellington. This year however, is their year for the Whaka 50km race. |
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