125th Waimate White Horse Big Easy raises more than $15,000 for community organisations

More than 300 people turned up for Waimate’s annual White Horse Big Easy event on Sunday raising between $15,000 – $20,000 for some of the town’s community organisations.

Vice chair of the organising committee Ryan Luckman said the highlight of the event for them was the number of children who competed in the walking and mountainbiking event.

“They seemed to really enjoy the races, and they loved getting the medals in the end,” Luckman said.

“All in all, the event ran really well, and we were incredibly lucky with the weather which was amazing. It did start raining when the final competitor crossed the finish line.”

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Luckman said the organising committee have received “excellent” feedback about the tracks and a huge amount of competitors wanted to book in and come back for next year’s races.

“We were really happy with the number of people as well. It’s a good building event coming out of the pandemic and should help us get the event back on the map again.

“The courses for next year’s races have already been set, and we should have a clear course map for the public well before next year’s event, so they can train for it.”

Luckman said their social media page had been receiving good comments and people had many uploaded photos from the event.

Although the final tally was yet to be completed, the organising committee estimated the event raised between $15,000 and $20,000 for Centrecare Counselling Waimate, Sport Waimate, Waimate School of Music, Rotary Club Waimate, White Horse Mountain Bike Club, Centennial School and Waihao Downs School.

Winners of various running and mountain bike races were spread across people from South Canterbury and the rest of the South Island, Luckman said.

Contestants ranged in age from five up to those in their 70s.

The White Horse Big Easy encompassed five separate events; the individual mountainbike categories of 7km, 13km, 20km, and 27 km; the individual walk or run categories of 5km, 13km, and 21km; the 1.5km run or bike course for younger children; the team challenge of run 21km and MTB 27km; and the duathlon of 13km run and 20km MTB.