New Naming Rights Sponsor For Mount Festival Of Multisport

The 2021 edition of the Mount Festival of Multisport will present a new Naming Rights sponsor, and an exciting course change.

The event is one of the most iconic and longest running events on the country’s multi-sport calendar, and set for its 32nd running in 2021. It will now be known as the “Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport” with this announcement accompanied by a huge change to the event’s course.

The bike course has traditionally taken in Ocean Beach Rd from Mount Manganui to Papamoa. But in 2021, the multi-lap circuit and speed humps of Ocean Beach Rd will be a thing of the past, with bikes set to race the Toll Road, thanks to the planning support of Fulton Hogan, and approval by Waka Kotahi and Tauranga City Council.

This fast new bike course will be used for the Tauranga Half, Enduro and Aquabike events on the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport programme, which takes place on the 23rd of January 2021.

The festival’s General Manager, Lauren Watson describes the change to bike course as “really exciting news for the event. It is going to be a unique experience for athletes, as no other triathlon event in NZ rides on a closed highway. It will be a ‘money can’t buy’ experience for athletes for all abilities, being able to ride on such a fast surface.” Lauren added – “in the elite field, they will be flying.”

This major change to the bike course has been brought about through the desire to continually improve the event, to ensure the safety for the athletes as resident traffic in Papamoa in growing, and to decrease the impact on the community. Lauren said – “when looking at all aspects of the race, this new course ticks all the boxes and ensure the safe sustainability of the event”.

Temporarily closing a highway for an event is no easy feat, and the management of traffic is a key role Fulton Hogan is playing. Watson said – “without their support, this would not have been possible. They are a company who understand the value this event brings to the region, and have worked with us on ways to develop and improve it.”

In announcing their Naming Rights sponsorship of the Mount Festival of Multisport, Fulton Hogan’s Bay of Plenty Regional Manager, Anita Varga says – “Fulton Hogan is proud to be a major sponsor of such an iconic event in Tauranga. As a “kiwi made” business, we hope the refreshed changes to this event bring even more visitors/competitors to our fantastic region.

Anita went on to say - “Traffic Management is such a central part of the ability to run this event, and we will have 7 teams with a minimum of 17 staff working on the day. We’re locals, supporting locals, caring for the communities in which we live and work, especially in these challenging times.” Fulton Hogan has supported the event for 13 years and Anita says it was a logical step to move up to the role of naming rights sponsor. We now have around 50 staff competing in the event too.

With the new bike course, we can expect to see some fast times from the Tauranga Half elite fields. The 2021 field is the strongest in over a decade including defending champ, and race record holder Kyle Smith, 2019 winner Mike Phillips, former race record holder Braden Currie, ten time champion – Cameron Brown, and former world champion – Terenzo Bozzone.

The women’s field for the Tauranga Half features defending champ Hannah Wells seeking a threepeat of wins, 2020 runner-up Rebecca Clark, Melanie Burke & Emily McNaughton.

For athletes wanting to challenge themselves with an athletic endeavor in the new year, entries can still be made for the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport at

www.mountfestival.kiwi

© Scoop Media