The Rally of the Rock is an exciting mountain biking adventure across the challenging and beautiful tracks of Niue. Can you conquer the Rock?
Mountain biking on Niue has always been popular because of the superb bush tracks. There are about 170km of tracks that criss cross the island and flow through scenic rain forests scrub land and bush gardens. You can virtually ride from one end of the island to the other without going on the main roads.
One Sunday morning we were out blasting along some of these tracks and stopped in a shady place for a drink and started to talk about what a great place to have a mountain bike rally. That evening over a beer or two it was decided to organise the rally on the same concept as a blind car rally.
We held our first rally May 1999 and it was so popular there were not enough bikes on the island. People enjoyed themselves so much that we made it an annual event, until Cyclone Heta destroyed all the bush trails. We are now able to resurrect the Rally and it will be held on 3 May 2008. Now we have Air New Zealand flying to Niue, we are hoping to get more overseas riders - they will need to bring there own bikes and safety headgear, although there are some available for hire on the Island.
The Rally of the Rock is a rally for mountain bikes. Why Niue? Because it’s hard and it’s tracks are fast. So are you up to it? Can you conquer the Rock, or will the Rock conquer you? All you have to do is beat the heat (elements), the terrain and the clock over six special speed stages.
The rally will be run on the same concept as a blind car rally. The competitors will only find out where they are going an hour before the start, so there is no time to practice on the actual Rally tracks. Each rider will be given a map to guide them on the touring stages so there will be little chance of getting lost on the way to the special speed stages.
On arrival at the first special speed stage, there will be a few minutes wait for riders, then each competitor will be flagged away at one minute intervals, to ride as fast as they can. The track will be marked with arrows just before the corners and will show how sharp the corners are. There will also be signs for steep downhills and cautions for dangerous or rough parts of the track. The stage will end with a chequered flag.
There will be six touring stages and six special speed stages. Officials will be positioned throughout the special stages in case of accidents, and there will be a time limit on riders arriving late at special stages, to keep the event running on time.
The Rally will start and finish at Liku Village.
Categories
• Mens – 15 years to 40 years
• Senior Mens – 41 years and over
• Open Ladies
For bikers who are not into competitions, there are plenty of bush tracks and good quality roads to ride - the Island is totally biker friendly with minimal traffic. Most of the scenic sites are easily accessible by bike and a circle tour of the Island is a good day’s ride.
There will also be a non-competitive ride on Monday evening 5 May 2008 ending at Avatele Beach for a barbeque at Washaway Café.
This event is organized by the Niue Tourism Association.
