the Events!

Fri 26th Apr
2pm start @ The Hub

The perfect entrée to Saturday’s Craters Classic MTB event. On Friday afternoon, Bike Taupo will organise a multi-lap MTB event, aimed at getting the little (and big) ones onto bikes, and heading into the forest for a super-cool bike adventure!! This will be a short-ish loop course and will have a 2-hour set time limit. Feel free to go round once and call it a day, or just keep on going until you run out of time and/or steam!!

Fri 26th Apr
From 5.30pm @ The Hub

After the Fri MTB event finishes, we’ll get in there and set up an awesome 2.5km course, then we’ll head into the evening and the darkness – bring your headlamps and sparkly running gear! Massive thanks to BME (Bevan Martin Electrical) for sponsoring this one. Event 1 is a 2.5km (single lap) or 5km (double lap) starting at 5.30pm - designed for kids, whanau and friends. Event 2 (starts 6.30pm) is the multi-lap event - knock out as many laps of the 2.5km course as you can in 2 hours! Designed for individuals looking to smash out the miles, or a relay team of between 2-4 people.

Sat 27th Apr
8.50am start @ The Hub

Taupo is home of some of the best old school XC single track mountain biking in NZ. Craters Classic courses are designed to showcase some of the 80km of single-track network available in Craters MTB Park. The event is run by Bike Taupo and that means all profits are returned to track building and maintenance. Nice one! Come and check out some old trail favourites, and some new ones recently built post-cyclone. Event options include; 50km, 30km, 22km and 8km.

Sat 27th Apr
1.30pm start @ Spa Park

You may be asking just how much does Total Sport know about rogaines - very fair question! The short answer is, not a huge deal, which is why we’re thrilled to be partnering with the Taupo Orienteering Club on this little beauty! These legends (Phil & Tony - current North Island 4-hour rogaine champs - nice!) have been updating the maps, and have set a super sweet course. Designed for teams and individuals, about the most fun you can have with your running shoes on!

Sun 28th Apr
9am start @ The Hub

Run or walk the best trails in the Craters forest, some old and some new. Big ups to Bike Taupo, who have been in there rebuilding tracks and trails following that pesky cyclone, Gabrielle. Hit the trails and run or walk a variety of distance options at the revamped John West Craters trail run/walk; an awesome 21km half marathon, 12km, 6km and 2km tiger trails kids dash!! Just like the old school Craters trail run/walk event, but a bit different now! It’s going to be so great, and will be the last participation event of the festival!!

Fri 26th - Sun 28th Apr
All day @ The Hub

This spot is going to be so awesome and will be open at all times the Hub festival site is open. We’re working with the super-cool Sarah from Stepping Stones, who has put together an amazing line-up of kid-focused activities and entertainment - with a focus on nature and the outdoors of course. Who doesn’t love to sit down and paint a nature-based rock. To be fair, us adults could probably do with a bit of that in our lives too!!

Sat 27th Apr
4.30pm @ 2 Mile Bay Sailing Centre

One of the themes we’re proudly standing behind at this festival is the conversation around our mental health & fitness. It’s a really big deal and great to see it becoming somewhat normalised. We’re partnering with the good people at Movember, who are doing such great mahi in this space. Come and join Mark Richardson, Shoshannah Shand, Mal Law and Professor Grant Schofield as they share their stories around the outdoors and nature, success + failure, what they’ve done and do, and their journey in and around mental health. This event is designed to be honest and interactive.

Please note, this is a ticketed function - $39/person, limited numbers.

Fri 26th - Sun 28th Apr
Various times @ The Hub

I think we all know secretly that if we hit those trails reasonably regularly, that we should supplement all of this fun stuff with equally fun exercises that restore and rejuvenate our bodies - we only get one of them, so best we look after the one we got given! We have a great selection of classes lead by Bex and Rachel at Studio.two. This Taupo pair are super knowledgeable in the areas of stretching, pilates, yoga etc. Rach and Bex have kindly agreed to come and be a part of the festival, and to share and guide (for free!) some of these things. Aimed at anyone with a body, keep an eye out for the schedule, which will run regularly throughout the festival. These are non-ticketed events, and are on a first come-first sorted basis.

Sat 27th Apr
6.30pm start @ 2 Mile Bay Sailing Club

We can’t have a festival without a party now can we?! And when we party in Taupo there’s really only one place to go, and that’s the single coolest spot in town - the 2 Mile Bay Sailing Club, the only bar that sits on the lake!

The party will follow on from the Tales from the Trails event, also at the same venue. Come along with whanau and friends (dogs are welcome too!). Unreal setting, great beverage selection and mean pizzas. Just remember we’ve got the Craters Trail run/walk event on Sun morning!

Sun 28th Apr
2pm @ 400 metres from The Hub

Throughout the Love Taupo Trail Festival we are celebrating the magic of being outdoors in nature, doing the things we love with our friends and whanau. These trails we love, they’re very often surrounded by beautiful trees. So we thought, let’s create trees as the ‘currency’ of the festival - for every pair of shoes (big or small) and wheel that cross a finish line in any of the events on offer, we’ll plant a tree. We are proud to be partnering with Greening Taupo and Kids Greening Taupo, who will manage this the last event of the festival. Following on from the Craters trail run/walk prize giving we’ll head to the planting site and pop these little babies in the ground - what a way to finish a great weekend!