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One of the most popular summer sports events on the North Shore has failed to fire on the Hibiscus Coast, after three years of trying.
The G J Gardener Homes Orewa Beach Series – an extension of the weekly run/swim/standup paddleboard series that has been held in Takapuna for around 15 years – started up in the summer of 2016.
It was held for three summers, but has now been cancelled.
Event owner Nick Carroll says the costs involved in putting on the series are considerable and the Orewa series hasn’t grown over the three seasons to a size and number of participants that is sustainable. In Takapuna, it attracts on average 400-550 participants per event. The Orewa event averaged 200.
Nick says that a major factor was beach conditions. “With regular large swells and vastly fluctuating tide lines, Orewa Beach was quite frequently not suitable for an ocean sport event, which limited the opportunities for new participants to join the series,” he says.
This was reflected in low ocean swim numbers, which Nick says were around 70-80 per night, due largely to the very tidal nature of the beach, and the associated wade and run up the beach to the finish line. By comparison, the Takapuna series attracts 200-250 ocean swimmers.
SUP Shed in Orewa, which was a sponsor of the Orewa Beach Series, approached the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board hoping to fill the gap by holding a similar event over summer. The local board granted $5000 towards this, but SUP Shed owner Nik Sams says he will have to decline the grant as his event proved not viable once he crunched the numbers.
“Everyone wants to promote an active lifestyle and water safety, as well as bring people to the area, but the costs involved in holding something like this are too high,” Nik says. “Once you take into account parking provision, council consents, the need for water safety and public liability insurance, plus paying people involved in support on the day it is just not going to fly.”
