After 12 very successful Ray White Allens Kids Triathlons dating back to 2004, the Northland-run version of a kid’s triathlon is making way for the exciting Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon (SWKT) series.

Kids Triathlon organisers Sport Northland, along with long-time major sponsor of the event Ray White Allens, previously known as Allens, announced this week that the recently held 2015 event would be the last of its kind.

The Northland Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon event will be held on Sunday 10 April 2016, being the last event in the 16 strong calendar of Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlons across the country.

Pierre van Heerden, General Manager of Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company said, “We have had lots of requests from the north and far north over the years to run an event in that region.  With the great support from Sport Northland we believe our new event will be a very successful one.”

Although the venue for the Northland event has yet to be finalised, it is envisaged that the new event will be in the Mid-North area.

The Beginnings

In 2004, hundreds of kids took part in Northland's first ‘kid’s triathlon’.

It was called the Northern Advocate and Allens Northland Kids Tri-athlon and was held at Onerahi (Allens became part of the Ray White group in 2011, to then become known as Ray White Allens Whangarei).

The then Northern Advocate sports editor Tim Eves and local triathlon coach/identity Murray Healey established the event at a time when the annual SWKT series throughout NZ had no plans to bring an event to Northland.

So Eves and Healey created the region's own version and ran the annual event for eight years before approaching Sport Northland to become involved due to other commitments – the upshot of this being that Sport Northland took over the ownership and management of the event to ensure that Northland kids continued to have the opportunity to participate in a local kid’s triathlon.

The event’s major sponsor from the outset, the real estate company now known as Ray White Allens Whangarei, continued on with their sponsorship and can quite rightly be extremely proud of their part in exposing tens of thousands of Northland kids to an early taste of the sport of triathlon.

Other sponsors of the event right through all 12 events from 2004 included the Northern Advocate, Robinson Asphalts 1992 Ltd, Hot Printz Screenprinting Ltd, Calders Design and Print Co. Ltd, Elevate CA Ltd, Macsway Scaffolding Ltd, Fast Signz, OfficeMax and More FM with great support from the Kamo Lions.

One of the Directors of Ray White Whangarei, Tutukaka and Bream Bay John Monteith says that as passionate supporters of the Northland community, the opportunity for the company to be involved in an event that gave hundreds of enthusiastic, healthy kids a chance to participate, many for the first time, has been hugely satisfying and rewarding for all their team members involved over the years.

“As a family oriented company, we have been delighted to be able to play a small part, along with all the other sponsors, in supporting and empowering the children of today to become the confident and successful adults of tomorrow” said Monteith.

Sport Northland is hugely thankful to Ray White Allens and the above sponsors for their commitment, dedication and support over the 12 years in what has been a very successful event.

New Era for Kids Triathlon

Monteith goes on to say that the Ray White team are extremely pleased that with the advent of the Weet-Bix series moving north, it is possible now that an increased number of Northland kids will be able to take up the opportunity of experiencing a kid’s triathlon in their own back yards.

“Along with Tim and Murray we are proud to have been part of the vision of establishing an event specifically for Northland kids, but now that the Weet-Bix series has made the decision to move north, I’m sure their high profile and excellent branding will see more Northland kids taking part”.

Sport Northland Chief Executive Brent Eastwood says it was an easy decision for his organisation to make once the good news had been received from Sanitarium about a new event in Northland.

“We were only too happy to pick up the reins of running the event four years ago to ensure young Northlanders continued to have an annual kid’s triathlon event close to home, but with a Weet-Bix event now scheduled for Northland, the time is right for Sport Northland to look at other event opportunities for Northlanders”.

New Sport Northland Event

To this end, Sport Northland and Ray White Whangarei, along with support from Whangarei District Council, are very pleased to announce the staging of a new event this year, the Ray White Hatea Loop Challenge.

The event will involve participants running or walking the very popular Hatea Loop, with an emphasis on workplace teams of three or more. A date of Thursday 10 December has been confirmed, with entries set to open soon.