EVENT INFO

Riverhead Forest has it all – soft trails for your paws, great smells, nice scenery for the humans. With a picturesque, tree-lined clearing as event base you can finish your morning adventure with a well-deserved treat, some rough and tumble with new friends, or an afternoon snooze under a shady tree.

EVENT DATE

Saturday 13th March 2021

EVENT OPTIONS

Riverhead Forest offers a variety of single-track, forestry roads, clay-based trails and plenty of water and mud to add adventure and achievable challenge across all courses – event options include.

• 5km Frolic*

• 10km Romp*

*Human participants are allowed to run/walk. Dogs must be on leads at all times.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS & GUIDELINES

View or download map of all courses (658KB)

5km Frolic Course

This course is everything you would expect from Riverhead Forest, with the bulk of the course on wonderfully soft trails. This challenging yet achievable course will give you and your human a taste of everything including some mud to get your paws dirty, a bridge or two to cross, and the odd hill. This is the Labrador of the courses - a little bit of everything but not too much of anything!

• 45% single trails, 35% wide clay road, 20% gravel road

• Aid station at 2km & 2.7km

10km Romp Course

The 10km course is for those most adventurous hounds. Delving deep into the heart of Riverhead Forest this will have you and your human panting and smiling at the same time! There will be steep sections and there will be some mud, but boy will it be fun! Not only will you be going through this forest's well-known pines but we have included two stunning sections of native bush. So while your human is enjoying the beautiful nature, you can satisfy your call of nature on a native or a pine!

• 55% single trails, 20% wide clay road, 25% gravel road

• Aid stations at 2km, 5.7km & 7.7km

START TIMES

*Please Note: Vehicle access to parking area will be closed at 9:15am. All participants must attend the compulsory race briefing at 9:20am.

Start Waves

In order to reduce congestion on the trails we will start you in seeded waves. When you go online to register you will be asked to select your preferred start wave based on you and your human’s expected speed!

Wave Options:

• Slowish – For those of you who want to walk most or all of the course.

• Medium – For our joggers and fast walkers.

• Fast – For our speedsters who want a chance to stride out and run at a reasonable pace.

EVENT CATEGORIES

• Small Breed Dogs (Adult weight < 10kg)

• Medium Breed Dogs (Adult weight 11kg – 24kg)

• Large Breed Dogs (Adult weight > 25kg)

RULES FOR THE HUMANS

• Dogs must be on leads at all times, including out on the course

• No retractable leads

• A maximum of one dog per person

• All dogs must have up-to-date vaccinations

• Please do not bring female dogs in heat

• Participants are expected to practice responsible pet ownership

• Pets must be kept under control at all times

• All dogs must be friendly and sociable amongst other dogs

• Please come prepared to clean up after your dog i.e. BYO poop bags

COMPULSORY GEAR

• Poop bags

• 1 lead per dog

REGISTRATION

On the morning of the event head to the Registration Tent at Event Base to fetch your race bib, timing chip and Eukanuba goodie bag!

No need to bring any paperwork, all you need is your name. Registration queues will be split alphabetically by surname.  

We would recommend arriving 45mins before your briefing time to allow plenty of time for registering and the inevitable coffee and toilet queues that your human will insist on standing in.

Please Note: Race bibs are to be worn by the humans. (After all, why have a human and carry your own stuff? Next they'd be asking you to carry your own poop!)

DRIVING DIRECTIONS AND PARKING

Download driving directions (156KB)

TRANSFERRING YOUR REGISTRATION

Transfers from one entrant to another will be pawssible with an admin fee of $15.

Please email us at  registrations@totalsport.co.nz if you have someone you wish to transfer your entry to (dog or human), we will provide you with a credit code that your friend can then use to enter themselves online.

CHANGING DISTANCES

You can change distances prior to online registrations closing. This is pawssible through your online registration, click to amend through your confirmation email. If you’re chasing your tail trying to find your registration confirmation please email us at registrations@totalsport.co.nz

Note: There are no partial refunds if downgrading.

PRIZE GIVING

Prize Giving will be at 12 noon at the event base. Medals will be awarded across the finish line to all finishers. Medals will be given to humans (to make them feel special) but if you look closely they are very cool dog tags for your collar! With space to get your name engraved on the back!

PRIZES

No winner trophies will be awarded, rather a random prize draw for each of the size categories;

• Small Breed Dogs (Adult weight < 10kg)

• Medium Breed Dogs (Adult weight 11kg – 24kg)

• Large Breed Dogs (Adult weight > 25kg)

Along with prizes for:

• Muddiest Dog

• Most Active Dog

• Grit Award

There will also be many wonderfur spot prizes given out across the line!

MEASURING OUR COURSES

Our courses are measured as accurately as we can. Our course crew get out on each course every year measuring the distances by driving, running, and/or riding on their bikes. We measure using two separate GPS devices and by vehicle and/or bike odometers where possible.

WHY DOES MY GPS WATCH SHOW A DIFFERENT DISTANCE?

“The course was too short!” “The course was too long!” We’ve all heard it at every finish line. So why is there a difference between the course distance and your GPS watch? Which is correct, the course or your watch?

Unfortunately, GPS and your running watch are not entirely accurate. Let’s not blame the technology, let’s be honest, it’s pretty epic! Your little piece of technology on your wrist is picking up 20-30 satellites 20,000km up in the sky and telling you how fast you are running and where you are running, uploading that information to an app and showing you on a map! In our experience, our participants’ distances recorded on their watches have usually been less than the distance they have just run/walked/biked. The distances recorded by our participants has been around 5-10% less, meaning over a half marathon, their watches have shown around 19.5km.

Your recorded distance depends on a number of variables – speed you are moving, tree/building cover, geographical features (valleys, sides of hills, elevations), corners, and accuracy of your GPS location. Basically, when you are running, walking, or biking on one of our stunning courses, weaving around those single trails in the beautiful native forests, your device can take a more direct route due to loss of signal under tree cover and/or how often it communicates with the satellites.

HEALTH & SAFETY

FOR THE DOGS

Jono – Your Mobile Vet
Your Mobile Vet veterinary clinic comes to you and your pet, providing comfort for your pet and convenience for you. Their mobile veterinary clinic is fully equipped to deal with just about any problem your pet may have, from a simple vaccination to desexing surgery.

You can order prescription and non prescription medication, food and animal health products from their online store. Visit Jono on event day and receive a voucher for 20% off their online store!

Learn more at yourmobilevet.co.nz

FOR THE HUMANS

Peak Safety
At Total Sport we have been using the safety services of Peak Safety for quite some time now – they really are top shelf! They have been in operation since 1996 (1 year longer than us!) so have a massive amount of experience to draw on; this combined with their absolute passion for the outdoors and everything safety really does make for a winning combination.

Not only do they offer a wide range of safety management services but they also run a large range of First Aid and Height Safety courses. If you or someone you know needs something in this department we highly recommend you get in touch with these guys first – very nice and very professional! Learn more at peaksafety.co.nz