The 15th annual XTERRA Rotorua Festival is set for Saturday in the enchanting Whakarewarewa Forest surrounding Lake Tikitapu.

If you’ve ever seen Lord of the Rings you can imagine this place.  The trails seem heavenly made with magic dirt and the course twists and turns through towering redwoods and monstrous ferns.

The lure of this mythical place annually attracts some 2,000 XTERRA Warriors for a festive day of events that include family-friendly 5.5, 11, and 21km trail runs, mountain bike races, and short-and-championship distance off-road triathlons.

It’s no surprise that some of XTERRA’s brightest stars hail from right here in Rotorua, guys like Sam Osborne, Olly Shaw, Lewis Ryan, and the list goes on.

The man-to-beat on Saturday, however, hails from the South Island in Wanaka.  Braden Currie, the reigning and two-time XTERRA New Zealand Champ, has done more in the “off-season” than most people do in a lifetime.  He went long and got a win at Ironman New Zealand.  He went coast-to-coast for a runner-up, and got defiant with Josiah Middaugh for another payday.  Now he turns his attention to XTERRA, and the first-step towards a big-picture dream of winning Worlds.

“I have had a pretty cruisy training stint since Ironman NZ in early March so the body is doing great, actually,” said Currie, who was 4th at XTERRA Worlds last year.  “I have been enjoying getting back into riding over the last two weeks. I still love racing XTERRA but will put more of a focus into Ironman and 70.3 racing this year, but I will be using the mountain bike for cross training and still be doing lots of hill running. I am looking forward to another round at Worlds. It’s one of my favorite races of the year and I’m confident that one day, everything will line up for me.”

First up is getting past a motivated Sam Osborne who just won the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour opener in Saipan a few weeks ago.

“Osborne always gives a good chase,” said Currie.  “He is a tough athlete and I really enjoy racing him. I look forward to a good battle with him in the swim, bike and the run.”

Two years ago, Osborne nearly caught Currie at the finish line by posting the fastest run of the day, but ultimately finished 13-seconds shy of a title.  It was runner-up for Osborne last year as well, and the vice-champion of the XTERRA European Tour went on to finish 2nd five more times in 2016.

“I’m so happy to finally get the win, it’s absolutely fantastic.  I’ve had so many podiums, it’s great to finally break through,” said Osborne after taking the tape in Saipan.

Shaw, who at 25-years-old is already a 10-year veteran of the sport, has been racing XTERRA Rotorua since he was 15 and still wants nothing more than to win it.

“This race is always my main focus for the early part of the season,” said the 2016 XTERRA Motatapu Champion.

Another young, promising Kiwi following in the footsteps of guys like Shaw is Hayden Wilde from Whakatane.  Wilde won the 15-19 division XTERRA World Championship for the second-straight year in October and placed 29th overall ahead of more than two dozen international XTERRA elites.

Fynn Thompson, the U23 National Champ who dreams like Wilde of representing New Zealand at the 2020 Olympics, is hoping for a big day in Rotorua, as are fellow countrymen and XTERRA regulars Alex Roberts and Cameron Paul, Kyle Smith, Dirk Peters, and John Mering.

Adding international flavor to the men’s field is Cedric Wane, a rookie elite out of Tahiti, Brodie Gardner, the 2016 XTERRA Saipan Champ who just finished 3rd at XTERRA Thailand, and David Ballesteros from Spain, who was 4th in Thailand.

In the women’s race Jacqui Allen (formerly Slack) has a new last name but the same big game.  She won the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour finale last year in Malaysia and won here in Rotorua back in 2012.

“I’m feeling relatively fit all considering,” said Slack, who married fellow XTERRA Warrior Ben Allen in Australia just a few weeks ago.

“One of my athletes Penny Slater will be racing her first pro XTERRA race in New Zealand alongside me.  She’s going very well and there could be potential for an athlete/coach battle … hopefully experience will pay off,” smiled Allen.

Other elite women in the mix include a pair of Kiwis, Hannah Wells and Karen Toulmin.

For more information visit www.xterra.co.nz and follow their Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Paymark-XTERRA-Rotorua-Festival.

Highlight Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfWfZlUF0Do

XTERRA NEW ZEALAND ALL-TIME WINNERS

Year              Men                                  Women

2003              Sam Mallard                   Evelyn Willamson

2004              Hamish Carter               Sonia Foote

2005              Hamish Carter               Sonia Foote

2006              Hamish Carter               Gina Ferguson

2007              Tim Wilding                    Gina Ferguson

2008              Terenzo Bozzone         Sonia Foote

2009              Richard Ussher              Nicola Leary

2010              Scott Thorne                  Nicola Leary

2011              Richard Ussher              Karen Hanlen

2012              Ben Allen                         Jacqui Slack

2013              Ben Allen                         Renata Bucher

2014              Conrad Stoltz                 Barbara Riveros

2015              Braden Currie                Suzie Snyder

2016              Braden Currie                Lizzie Orchard

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