The Legendary Foxton Loop Race

This Saturday August 10 will see the 25th anniversary of the Foxton Loop race. The Event has undergone a few transformations over the years, in distance and course, but one thing that has stayed the same is it's always a nice little outing to travel to with the bulk of the paddlers having to travel 1 to 3 hours to get to the start line.

This will be the 4 th year that the event has started at the Manawatu Boating Club on the Estuary at Foxton Beach and like last year it includes an 8km stand up paddle board course to go with the 18 km traditional long course for the sit down paddlers.

You will see a good field of multisport, K1, sea kayaks and surf skis and this year we may also see Waka ama on the start line again after a break of a few years.

The event has been run by the Ruahine White Water Club since day one and the bulk of the prizes have traditionally come from the entry money, but this year a few sponsors have chipped in with a few prizes that will spread a bit further. At the finish you'll get a nice hot shower at the boating club and also some hot food to replenish some of the energy paddlers expend getting around the course.

You should see good turnouts of paddlers from Wanganui, New Plymouth and Wellington with paddlers from the closer surrounding areas of Levin, Ashurst, Pahiatua and Palmerston North all keen to support their local event and club.

The Forecast for Saturday is for a sprinkle of rain possibly, and also light winds. It doesn't matter what the weather is like, it should be a great day out...........show your support.... the Ruahine White Water Club, lead by Max Grant, are a great bunch of people and they'd like to be running this event for us for another 25 years I'm sure!
A few shots from the estuary and the loop at the Foxton Township from a couple of events last year.

Click on any photo to enlarge.