Busy season approaches for the Tarawera
20 February 2015
ALMOST every weekend over March Kawerau’s white water facility on the Tarawera River will host rafting and canoe events.
Regulatory and planning manager Chris Jensen presented the busy line up to Kawerau District Council at a Regulatory and Services Committee meeting on Tuesday.
The series begins with the Bay of Plenty Canoe Slalom championships on March 8, followed by the North Island championships the following weekend on March 15.
The Seriously Social Rafting competition finishes for the summer season with the final day on the water planned for March 22.
The New Zealand Secondary Schools’ national canoe slalom competition will spend five days racing from March 28 to April 2.
The rafts are back on April 11 and 12 for the New Zealand Rivers Association R6 selection races which includes sprints, head-to-head and slalom events.
Events and community activities team leader Lee Barton said organisers of the R6 event were considering floodlights which would enable the first round of night racing on the Tarawera River.
He said events at the white water facility attracted a good cross-section of the community, many who had become regular visitors and followers of water sports.
Mr Barton encouraged new spectators to visit the events as many Kawerau residents still told him they did not even realise the white water facility was available.
Source: Whakatane Beacon