26 May 2010

36TH Cold Kiwi Motor Cycle Rally

Dates for this year’s event are Friday September 03 and Saturday 04 September 2010

Website online bookings will open after Queens Birthday Weekend

Postal entries will open late June $37.50

Online bookings and payments will be at a special rate of $35

All online bookings will receive an e-mail confirmation and tickets will be collected at the gate. Pre pay clothing will be available for collection on Saturday morning.

Pre-paid meals will be available Friday and Saturday nights as well as Saturday and Sunday breakfasts

Travel Prize Draws for all Internet and Pre pay entries

Ferry booking discounts available

Bands Friday and Saturday nights

Fire works Friday and Saturday nights

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27 May 2009
Cold Kiwi 2009

This year will be the 35th Cold Kiwi held by the Ruapehu Motor Cycle Club at Tangiwai 6 kms from Wairouru.

Entry forms will be mailed mid June and online bookings will be available.

Dates are Friday September 4th and Saturday September 5th.

Every 5 years the club puts on a little extra to celebrate another 5 years of great fun for motor cycle enthusiasts from all over New Zealand.

Fireworks will be displayed on Friday as well as Saturday nights.

T Shirts for the 35th will be printed in 4 colours and the club is looking at a special 35th commemorative gift for the first 1000 entries.

All prepaid entries go in a draw for a travel prize as well as a big saving on the gate entry price.

There are now flushing toilets at the site.

On Site Caterers will be putting on another amazing menu, as well as hotdogs chips and burgers from the caravan,the dining rooms will be serving Roast Tea on Saturday Night and a real biker’s big breakfast on Sunday morning. Bookings when you pre-pay for the Gate entry is recommended. Tea and coffee are free but there will also be a Café menu with coffee.

The club with help from the many sponsors gives away a huge number prizes for events as well as spot prizes.

Friday night band is 6 Chairs Missing and Saturday night band is Twisted. Both are very popular Cold Kiwi Bands.

The members of the RMCC look forward to meeting all their friends in September.

We are looking for new photos to put on the new website.

09 February 2009
NEW WEBSITE FOR 2009
Hi there guys . We are working on an all new Website for 2009. so watch this space

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26 February 2007
Cold Kiwi 2006 by Steve Green
32nd Annual Cold Kiwi Rally, 2006.
By Steve Green

Once a year, a large open paddock on the Merekuao Lands six Kilometre's out of Waiouru towards Ohakune becomes the venue for the annual Cold Kiwi Motorcycle Rally. This years event was the 32nd in the Rallies long history and many of the over 1500 entrants at this years event were not even born when the first Rally was held many years ago.
This weekend's event started on Friday afternoon with the first of the many entrants setting up their tents in the pine trees on the edge of the open plain and getting their evening meal from the friendly on site team from "Onsite Catering" in Auckland, who spent the whole weekend cooking hamburgers and steak sandwiches for the hardy enthusiasts who were camped out for the weekend. Lynn Fletcher and her dedicated team from the Saint Johns Ambulance Service in Palmerston North were also on hand all weekend just in case anyone had need of First Aid.
Later in the evening the crowd was kept entertained till the early hours with some loud and enthusiastic music provided by the band, "Roadhouse 620", from Palmerston North.
Saturday morning dawned cool but clear with just a chill wind blowing through now and then to detract from the days events and on the horizon the snow covered slopes of Mount Ruapehu made for a very scenic backdrop. By noon most of the riders had arrived and the first of the events got underway, with the traditional, steep Hill Climb up a pair of fairly narrow pathways between rows of young pine trees.
The Cold Kiwi Hill Climb is always fun to watch with a number of the riders having noticeably more enthusiasm than ability. Not that I am knocking them at all, as it takes a brave man or woman to ride their motorcycle up a steep hill that you can barely walk up, especially for those who tried it with two or three people on a motorcycle built for two. At least one pair of riders attempting to ride up the steeper side of the hill took an unintentional sharp left turn and crashed into a tree.
After the Hill Climb had finished, the steep side of the hill was used for a helmet dash, which was a running race from the bottom of the hill to the top, with the competitors having to wear a helmet while climbing and the winner gets a brand new Nolan Helmet.
Next was the slow race, which sounds like a contradiction in terms, however the idea is for the entrants to all start at the same time and the winner is the rider who gets to the finish line last without putting a foot to the ground. This is not as easy as it sounds since motorcycles are like pushbikes in that they tend to fall over if you go too slow or stop forward motion, to win this event you need good throttle & clutch control as well as good balance.
The wheel stand competition also required good balance and throttle control to ride on one wheel down the length of the course. Needless to say, not all the entrants in this event had a good day as I saw at least one rider go bouncing down the paddock in a tangle of arms & legs. Despite all the active competition on Saturday afternoon, there was only one rider who needed the attentions of the first aid personnel after he had a big crash at the foot of the hill climb flying into the air and coming down with a thump on his back, knocking the breath out of him, and even he was able to eventually stand and walk away after catching his breath.
Later in the afternoon, the Cycletreads Burnout competition got under way with bike engines screaming and rear tyres spinning on wooden slabs, turning rubber into huge clouds of smoke. Always a crowd favorite, the burnout appeals to the young Hoon in all of us, from the early days at Six Cross camp where the first burn outs were done on the old wooden bridge over the stream to today's purpose built Cycletreads burnout pad.
In the evening, the Ruapehu Motorcycle Club held a prize giving for all the competitors in the events followed by an impressive fireworks display that would have had the locals thinking that Mount Ruapehu was erupting again. Then there was another band that played loud and long into the night. Sunday morning was cleanup time with all the riders packing away their tents and heading for home, while the organizers cleaned up the site and packed everything away for another year.

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30 July 2006
EVERYTHING ABOUT THE COLD KIWI YOU WANTED TO KNOW
THE 32ND COLD KIWI IS ALMOST HERE, HOW DID IT START? READ ON

Taihape's one of those places that is often the brunt of the good old Kiwi sense of humour. In the 1970's Fred Dagg put the place on the map well and good, linking Gumboots & Taihape in Kiwi Folk-lore for ever.
Something else came out of Taihape in the 70's too, that something is now permanently etched into both Kiwi Folk-lore and also New Zealand's Motorcycling Heritage for ever. The COLD KIWI MOTORCYCLE RALLY. While its not actually in Taihape; The Ruapehu Motorcycle Club, who run the Rally and have done since 1972, are based in the Gumboot Capital of New Zealand. The Rally itself is now 6kms west of Waiouru.
This year the Ruapehu Motorcycle Club hosts the 32nd Annual COLD KIWI Rally an event thats been around since the early 70's and one that when it was in its Heyday in the late 80's drew 4500 Motorcyclists! Pretty amazing really when you consider that they were all in tents, on the Summit of the Desert Road, in early September. Heyday, according to the dictionary, is described as 'The wildness or frolicsome period of youth' so I guess one should re-write that earlier sentence and use the words “at its peak” as the COLD KIWI is still very much in the midst of its 'Heyday' as anyone whose attended recently will no doubt tell you. While it doesn't draw the numbers it once did, like pretty well all Motorcycle events these days, it is steadily growing again for one reason or another and is still simply 'Bloody good fun'.
Bikes are coming back into fashion and while the word COLD KIWI is often bantered around amongst riders both 'new' and 'old hands' there are still some folk who haven't managed to get to one as yet. One can only suggest that every Motorcyclist should seriously get a taste of the KIWI at least once and experience 'The wildness and frolicsome period of youth' no matter what your age! Seriously though in this day and age of political correctness etc its great to find a good old sanctuary where a couple of thousand like minded people can get together out of harms way and out of the way of people who wonder 'Why?' and have one great Get Together-slash-Party.
The Rally has been run by the Taihape based Ruapehu Motorcycle Club since it inception, which like many good ideas, was suggested in jest. The club had just run a successful mid-summer desert race in the area modeled of the very popular American events run in the Navajo Desert. Someone said in jest that they should revisit the area in the middle of winter and camp out, and so the Cold Kiwi got underway, held for many years at Six Cross Army camp, at the summit of the Desert road.
Following the success of the first event the word spread and the event grew steadily every year despite some monumental weather encountered and the name COLD KIWI became well known amongst New Zealand motorcycle enthusiasts. Quite a few Rallies have been started across our country by people who have visited the rally and decided to run their own styled off the COLD KIWI. Among those are the South islands Brass Monkey, run in early June and the Cold Duck, staged annually in Waipawa, in May.
The rally ran through till the late seventies and took a break for a couple of years, ran again in 1980 then from 1983 through till now. During these years there are almost an endless number of adventures experienced by those heading to and from the Kiwi, and entrants regularly come from all over NZ and occasionally from abroad.
It hasn’t always been easy to stage the rally for the RMCC either. In the late 70s a fire started on the site away from the normal bonfires and the Army wouldn’t allow use of the land for a couple of years, and then in 1984 the Army double booked Six Cross camp. A quick meeting between the Army and RMCC saw an Alternative venue offered by the Army, another camp, Abassia, 4kms from Waiouru. The next year saw the COLD KIWI back at the top of the Desert road until 1988 when the worst storm in eight years hit the desert road on the Thursday before the rally. Snow locked in all the food and much other vital equipment so the Club had no alternative but to postpone the Kiwi till the next weekend. An estimated 4000 bikes were expected that year. The Rally, albeit a lot smaller, went off the next weekend.
A serious head on smash between two bikes on the Desert Road claimed the lives of two entrants in 1989, reminding us all of the risks involved in enjoying our pastimes. The weather played havoc as is expected but the rally always kept on, with one year seeing it so cold that a fire had to be lit in the beer hut, to thaw the frozen alcohol out! A visit from the Police on the Sunday morning requesting the camp be evacuated as the Desert road was closing soon, it stayed closed for seven days too. Fortunately by that time of the day most rally entrants were already on their way. The Rally kept on at Six Cross until 1996 when there was a blanket ban on anyone using Army land. The controversial culling of the Kaimanawa Horses in the area was to be done, no date was set however as this would’ve given protesters a time to cause disruption, just a three month window of time when the horses would be “attended to”.
This three-month period extended right across the traditional time the KIWI has always been run. Discussions with in the club resolved to continue the original tradition that saw the COLD KIWI started, during the first weekend of September, rather than changing the date. A site near Tangiwai was selected and has been steadily growing facilities and character ever since.
The 32nd Cold Kiwi Motorcycle Rally will be happening near Waiouru kicking off on Friday 1st Sept through till Sunday the 3rd. The Rally opens at 3pm on Friday and features live bands both nights and there's no shortage of food and liquid refreshments available on site. A range of events kicks off at Noon on Saturday including the hill-climb, slow race and the ever popular burnout. This coupled with the good old camaraderie that seems to be abundant at the COLD KIWI makes it one of those unique experiences.
The rally attracts all manner of motorcyclists, although patches and cars are strictly not allowed. Age is no barrier with pre-schoolers sometimes showing up to those in their 70’s, often members of the nationwide Ulysses motorcycle club.
This year the Ruapehu Motorcycle Club are encouraging groups to get together and plan a trip to the Rally by way of a free ticket offered to those who pre-pay for ten at a time. For more details on this deal, entry forms and indeed the whole Rally: www.coldkiwi.co.nz info@coldkiwi.co.nz

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09 July 2006
THERE'S NO SHORTAGE OF THINGS TO DO AT THE COLD KIWI
The rally gates open at 3pm on the Friday .

A LIVE BAND is set for friday night and the Ruapehu Motorcycle Club is also looking at other entertainmanet at this stage to supplement the band.

A HUGE BONFIRE is also set to be lit as the sun goes down.
Saturdays EVENTS kick off at noon with the HILL-CLIMB followed by some of the usual events with some new ones tee'd up for the 32nd COLD KIWI too. Some events will require a certain level of skill and madness while for some you won't even need a bike. Should you desire to help someone else in the EVENTS but don't have anyone else make yourself known to the MC and if anyones short we're sure to find you a seat.Have a look at the pics in the Photo Gallery and you'll get the idea.

Late in the day there will be a TUG OF WAR challenge so get yourself a team together and give it a shot.

and again once the sun sets another big BONFIRE will be lit.

PRIZEGIVING will be followed by FIREWORKS and another LIVE BAND.
Theres no shortage of entertainment at the 32nd COLD KIWI.

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06 October 2005
PHOTOS NEEDED FOR GALLERY
Having trouble upload photos from the 31st Cold Kiwi?

It isn't always that easy for everyone but if you e-mail your pics to info@cold kiwi.co.nz we will post them for you.

Any comments about what we need to do for the 32nd Cold Kiwi next year are welcome.

Go to it.

Coming up next year is Ride Manfield Day. Watch this space.

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28 April 2005
Cold Kiwi Story Files From Steve Green
21st annual Cold Kiwi Rally.
By Steve Green.

A tent pitched among the tussock beside the Desert road in the middle of winter is not a normal holiday destination but each year hundreds of motorcyclists converge from all over the country to set up tents at an army camp 19 Kilometres North of Waiouru.
This year despite the rain, snow and howling gales around 1400 motorcyclists took part in the twenty first annual Cold Kiwi rally at "Six Cross Camp" which is on the side of the road at the highest point of the Desert road, around 1074 Meters above sea level.
Some like myself arrived on Friday evening to meet with old friends and attempt to put up a tent in a howling gale which later in the evening became a howling gale complete with rain.
From noon on Saturday there where various motorcycle events organised to keep the 1400 Rally entrants entertained including a motorcycle hill climb up a slippery hill, a tug of war competition between motorcycle clubs, a tyre burn out competition and a foot race up a steep slope to win a new helmet.
The foot race up the hill had one main rule in that all competitors had to wear a helmet while racing up the steep slippery hill with the main prize being a new helmet, one entrant went so far as to race in bare feet for better traction, he was a brave man considering the patches of snow on the ground.
The other two big events where the motorcycle hill climb and the tyre burn out competition which attracted a variety of entrants on everything from road bikes to trail bikes.
In the hill climb a Honda CBX750/4 road bike was the machine to beat, equipped as it was with a steel cleated rear wheel and a set of spiked chains on the front wheel.
A Suzuki 400/4 Impulse road bike had a few spectators cringing as its rider revved it till its electronic rev limiter started to cut out the spark to a couple of cylinders making it pop and miss.
The bike at the time was stuck part way up the hill and pulling 13 or 14,000 RPM with the rear tyre spinning in the mud.
The same bike was also used to set a new tyre burnout record of 5 minutes and 42 seconds during which time the engine was running at high revs while the bike sat stationary on top of a row of railway sleepers and converted and old worn out tyre into a big cloud of smoke.
Both Friday and Saturday evenings there was a huge fire to keep everyone warm, full catering facilities and on Saturday night there was live music provided by a loud and enthusiastic band.
The Cold Kiwi Rally has become a Tradition for many New Zealand motorcyclist and dates back to 1972 when six members of the Ruapehu Motorcycle club and a small group of friends got together at the "Six Cross Camp" for a mid winter get together.
Since then the event has grown in popularity to the point that in 1990 there were around 3500 entrants to the Rally which has been an annual event, except for two years when a lack of helpers meant that it was unable to be run.
This years Rally was held on September the first, second and third and being the Twenty First Cold Kiwi Rally it was expected to be a memorable one and with snow on Saturday evening and Sunday morning it was certainly one to remember.
An inch and a half of snow over all the tents and bikes made for a very picturesque sight on Sunday morning but it lost a little of its beauty when you had just crawled out of a sleeping bag inside the aforementioned snow covered tent and saw even more snow drifting down from above.
Despite the wind and rain and snow at this years rally I will probably go back again next year because strange as it may sound its fun and a good place to meet old friends. (and until the psychiatrist's report comes back to say otherwise I'm as sane as the next guy)

RESULTS
First entrant: Weller Brill of New Plymouth

Youngest entrant: Daniel Digby, Napier, 12.

Oldest entrant: Fred Bunneh, Titahi bay, 54.

Furthest travelled: Graham Turfrey, Invercargill.

Winners of the two Anset Mystery weekend: John Madams of Wanganui and T J Gilbert of Auckland.

Helmet dash: Karl Looney, New Plymouth.

Best Ducati: Shawn Kitchener, NR863, Christchurch.

Best pre 1980 Kawasaki: Neville Payne Z1300/6.

Oldest bike: Graeme Staples, 1918 Henderson four.

Most desirable bike: Peter Waitoa, Norton 850 Commando, John Player Special.

Rat bike: Bryan Lombarts Suzuki GS550.

BURN OUT

1st, Rick Fremantle, Suzuki impulse, 5 Minutes 42 Seconds.

2nd, Bruce Godfrey, Yamaha XJ600.

3rd, Justin Ryan, Honda Express.

HILL CLIMB

1st Road bike, Haydon Little, Suzuki Impulse.

1st Trail bike, Roland Skinner, Suzuki TS250 Trike.

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22nd Annual Cold Kiwi Rally.
By Steve Green

Over the weekend of September 6th, 7th & 8th the 22nd annual Cold Kiwi Rally was held on the "Waione Station" just out of Waiouru. The Cold Kiwi Rally has traditionally been held at the six cross army camp 19 kilometres north of Waiouru beside the desert road, however this year the health hazard caused by volcanic ash fall out from the recent eruption of Mt Ruapehu required a change of venue. Land owners Ann & Ted Bates were kind enough to offer the use of their land so for the weekend a large open paddock became a tent city with upwards of 1300 motorcyclists in attendance. Some arrived Friday evening with the main groups arriving on Saturday morning to set up their tents prior to the start of the days events. Already set up on Friday was the friendly team from "Onsite Catering" in Auckland who spent the whole weekend cooking tasty hamburgers & steak sandwiches as well as the main meal on Saturday evening and breakfast for the hardy enthusiasts who where still camped out Sunday morning. A team from the Saint Johns Ambulance service where also on hand all weekend just in case of need. For local Horowhenua motorcyclists like myself Saturday morning started with a ride of around 200 kilometres to get to the Rally site, then a lap around the paddock to find a clear spot to set up a tent. Once the tent was set up and a few old friends greeted, the news came over the loud speaker system that the first event, a hill climb, was about to get under way by the front gate. At first glance the hill which was rather steep seemed to be the hard part of the course however after the first couple of riders tried to climb the hill it soon became obvious that the run up of a hundred metres of wet slippery mud was more of a problem than the slope itself. The big road bikes entered did some very interesting if unintentional sideways manoeuvres in the mud before the reached the bottom of the hill and the better traction on its slope. Not to be outdone, the trail bikes entered also did some displays of controlled crashing and very uncontrolled slides. At one point commentator Neil Ritchie of Palmerston North made a comment about possums in leather jackets, such was the speed of a couple of spectators who decided that the bike coming up the hill was too close for comfort so they sought safety up one of the pine trees lining the hill climb track. After the highly entertaining hill climb there was a slow race where the winner was the rider who could go the slowest over a marked course without putting his feet down, although in some cases not just the feet but the whole bike ended up on the ground. The wheelstand competition was a prime candidate for the "funniest Video's" show on TV with a large number of riders falling over backwards. One entrant tried to do a wheelstand with a passenger, unfortunately the passenger did not hold on tight enough and landed rather heavily on his rear end while the rider carried on down the paddock alone. Other events over the afternoon where tug of war competitions between bike clubs and a race up the side of a scrub covered hill to win a new helmet, the only condition of entry was that all competitors had to wear a helmet while running up the hill. A burn out competition saw a couple of worn out rear tyres converted into smoking shreds by spinning them on a wooden platform till they heated up and started to smoke. One of the crowd favourites was Johno Milne on a who kept the rear tyre of his Kawasaki KZ400 spinning and smoking for just over five minutes despite the tyre having punctured after three and a half minutes. At the end there where just a few shreds of rubber left on him rear wheel. After the events the rallyists spent the rest of the afternoon socialising prior to prize giving and dinner, after which a band played till the early hours of Sunday morning. Sunday morning saw a few showers of rain and a lot of damp motorcyclists packing away their wet tents for the long ride home. And interestingly enough, despite the cold and damp most of them will be back next year for the 23rd Cold Kiwi, hopefully at this new site.

RESULTS
Burnout, Longest Johno Milne Kawasaki KZ400.
Burnout, best Neville Curran, Yamaha TT500.
Helmet Dash, Jason North.
Wheelstand, Neville Stocko 1st, Land Scout.
Tony Rowland 2nd, Honda XR500.
John Roper 3rd.
Slow race, Trail bike section, Carl Looney, CRM250.
Slow race, Road bike section, David Tristrum.
Hill Climb, Trail Section, Mark Rowland, XR250.
Hill Climb, Road Section, Yoe Panting, BSA 650.
Oldest entrant, 63 years old.
1st entrant, Mr Pepper.
Rat Bike, Miles Gregory.
Most desirable bike, Kawasaki Z1000 of Peter Birkett.
Furthermost travelled, G Rogers of Kaitaia.
Oldest Bike, Graeme Staples Henderson 4.
Best pre 1980 Kawasaki, Mani Raumati's H1,500.
Hard Luck Award, Dave Kelly who ran out of petrol plus collected a speeding fine $490 along the way.

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23rd Annual Cold Kiwi Rally.
By Steve Green

Over the weekend of September 5th, 6th & 7th the 23rd annual Cold Kiwi Rally was held on the "Waione Station" just out of Waiouru.
The Rally attracted over 1000 entrants from all over the countryside, some arriving Friday evening and some like myself turned up Saturday morning to set up their tents. By the time my tent was set up, the first event, the hill climb was under way. The hill with a fairly slippery surface and very steep slope made for some interesting styles with bikes ranging from road bikes & trail bikes through to farm bikes like an AG100 and a single Harley Davidson.
The hill climb was followed by a slow race, wheelstand competition and a burn out competition. There was some talk of a certain new red TL1000 entering the wheelstand competition however the owner decided the grass was too wet, it looked too hard or it was too far to walk home to Hamilton or something like that, maybe next year Eh Steve.
The team from "Onsite Catering" in Auckland spent the whole weekend cooking tasty hamburgers & steak sandwiches as well as the main meal on Saturday evening and breakfast for the hardy enthusiasts who where still camped out Sunday morning. Saturday dinner at "The Kiwi" has certainly come a long way from the early days, I hope the New Zealand Army can fight cos they certainly can't cook, and you don't even want to know what Clive used to do with a garden rake.
After the events the rallyists spent the rest of the afternoon socialising prior to prize giving and dinner. At the Cold Kiwi you can meet all sorts of interesting people like the nice lady from Christchurch with her little Teddy Bear, she told me she only came along to keep her husband from getting into trouble.
Then there were the Green twins from Wellington with their matching green Kawasaki ZX6R's and matching blue checked shirts, hello cousin & cousin in law. The prize giving later in the evening was a rowdy but very friendly affair. Then the band came on and played till the early hours of Sunday morning, I remember curling up in my sleeping bay late at night listening to them, then next thing I know a certain "Spyda" was giving his traditional "Hi Di Hi Campers" over the loud speakers Sunday morning.
Spyda's voicebox could do with an overhaul but the band from Napier called "Naked Gun" were brilliant. All evening there was a big crowd in front of the stage dancing & singing along with the band, including a certain motorcycle mechanic from New Plymouth. Now I won't mention any names but he rides a sidecar and works in Eliot Street, New Plymouth.
Sunday morning we all dragged ourselves out of bed, had a quick feed, packing away the tents and set out for the long ride home.

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Cold Kiwi Rally number 24
By Steve Green

I've been going to Cold Kiwi Rallies for a while now and ridden at least five different bikes over the years including my Yamaha TT500 and sidecar. This year for the 24th annual rally, as I have for the last couple, I rode my Moto Guzzi 1000cc trail bike, although admittedly neither the bike nor I have had much spare time for off roading in the last couple of years.
Getting this issue of the magazine ready meant that I was busy at work Friday so I rode up Saturday morning, for me it's not too far, about 195 Km from home to the Rally site and that includes the three and a half Kilometres of gravel from the road into the site itself.
The day was fairly clear however the wind was noticeably cold so I set up the tent in under the trees, parked up the Guzzi and dug out the trusty camera. As usual there were tents and bikes scattered all over the place under the trees and around the campsite. A few Turkey riders turned up with their bikes on the back of Utes but there are always a few at the Rally who haven't quite got the hang of things.
There is also a big open area by the main marque and caterers which always has bikes on it most of the day then they vanish when it gets dark. These guys & gals don't bring tents, they just stay long enough to get a Rally badge and watch the events, beware people, maybe next year we will only give out the badges on Sunday morning.
As for the events, well as usual the hill climb was fairly popular with everything from Harley's, Ducati's and a GL1200F Goldwing trying it. Unfortunately it was a case of two out of three's not bad, Clinton on the Harley Sportster got to the top as did the mysterious Ducati rider from out of the crowd.
Mr Mc Fish on his Goldwing on the other hand did a brilliant display of hill climbing, But !. Truth to tell he did get near on half the way up the hill, unfortunately he then turned left into the scrub, stopped and did about two sideways barrel rolls down the hill. The Ruapehu Club's Rally crew were quickly on the scene to lend a helping hand to Mr Mc Fish who was at this time squashed flat as a flounder under his Goldwing. Surprisingly the Goldwing and Mr Mc Fish were both OK apart from very minor injuries to both. There was some question about Mr Mc Fish's state of mental health after being steamrollered by half a Ton of Goldwing, however it was then pointed out that he did of his own free will ride the said Goldwing up the hill to start with so he was probably this crazy before the crash.
Other hill climb entrants of dubious intellectual capabilities included a couple of Vespa riders (very spectacular crashes), the three chaps on the TT600 Yamaha and even more so the three chaps on the Suzuki GS550 road bike with the bald back tyre.
After the hill climb, events rolled on with a slow race, wheel stand competition, helmet dash and the cone race in which contestants all rode bright fluoro orange safety cones. One rider I was very impressed with in the slow race was Spyda with his Suzuki RF900 complete with its wooden rear tyre, strange but true. Then there was the gent on the Kawasaki GPZ550 complete with Knobblies doing some awesome high speed wheel stands. Then there was the chap on the little 50cc thing that kept shedding bits of broken black plastic, usually just after the bike and owner had crashed into the dirt yet again.
The burnout competition was good if you where in the front row, unfortunately for the rest of us there was this big crowd of people with smoke coming out of the centre, oh for the good old days at Six Cross Camp, the smoke, the hill to sit on and the flying possum. Still there seemed to be no lack of people willing to convert a rear tyre into shreds of black sticky stuff and lots & lots of smoke.
Catering was brilliant as usual, the "On Site Caterers" team from Auckland kept every one well fed all weekend.
The evenings bands and singers on Saturday night were good, they were also rather loud if you got too close to the front of the tent, however over by the big fire the music was about right for me.
Next morning in typical Waiouru weather we all packed up and headed for home, typical weather in this case means that it was bleeding cold, wet & raining.
Next year will be the 25th Cold Kiwi Rally and will entail suitable celebrations so mark the first weekend in September as booked up already.

PRIZES

Hill Climb Trail Section.
1st Pete, Stu & Glen, three up on the Yamaha TT600.
2nd Peter Duxfield Yamaha TT600.
3rd Steve Lee, Yamaha XT600.

Hill Climb Road Section
1st Mr Mc Fish, Honda GL1200F Goldwing.
2nd Rob, Stu & Murray, three up on the Suzuki GS550.
3rd Clinton Fyfe, Harley Davidson Sportster.
4th Jason Herring, wearing just his boots, undies, gloves & helmet.
5th Rob Algie, Vespa SS90.

1st entrant, David Fergusson.
Farthermost Travelled in New Zealand, D Nester.
Farthermost Travelled overseas, Roberto Martinz Gomes, Spain.
Oldest entrant, Nigel 65.
Youngest, Michael Singer, 15, DR200.
Rat bike, Poo's Suzuki.

Slow Race Trail section.
1st Dean Allen, Honda TL200.
2nd Steve Lee, Yamaha XT600.

Slow Race Road section.
1st Murray Martin, F650 BMW.
2nd Clinton Fyfe, HD Sportster.

Wheelie Competition.
1st Aaron, Honda XR600
2nd Brendon, Vespa.

Best Burnout
Brent Miners, Suzuki Katana 1100.

Helmet Dash
Pat Ryan.

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26th Annual Cold Kiwi Rally.
By Steve Green

Over the weekend of September 2nd & 3rd, the 26th annual Cold Kiwi Rally was held on the "Waione Station" just out of Waiouru. The Cold Kiwi Rally has traditionally been held at the six cross army camp 19 kilometres north of Waiouru beside the desert road, however for the past couple of years, local Waiouru land owners, Ann & Ted Bates have been kind enough to offer the use of their land for the Rally.
Around 1650 entrants travelled to the site and took part in the weekend's events which ranged from the ever challenging Hill climb to the Burnout competition. Many arrived on Friday along with a couple of heavy showers of rain, while others waited till Saturday to arrive and put their tents up around the site, also to the accompaniment of some more rain, which cleared by noon for the start of the hill climb. The rain did make the hill climb very difficult and many riders, myself included, demonstrated some artistic & acrobatic manoeuvre ranging from simple face plants in the mud to high speed head butting of pine trees. The later is not recommended, as the rider who did so, later commented that he had a headache, the condition of the tree is not know at this time.
McFish on his 1200cc Honda Goldwing gave another demonstration of the art of hillclimbing on a full dress tourer, fortunately this years attempt was slightly less painful than the time when the bike rolled over the top of him, while it was rolling back down the hill. On a brighter note though, one of the helpers did find a part of his fairing that had broken off in one of his past attempts and returned it to McFish for retro fitting the Goldwing. As a general rule 99% of the road bikes went splat into the dirt at some point in their run with the possible exception of the Suzuki GSXR400 with Knobblies.
The burnout competition was as impressive as ever with one bike reading 300 Kph on the speedo with the front wheel securely stuck against the backing board while the rear was spinning and converting a perfectly good rear tyre into a huge cloud of smoke.
The helmet dash, on foot up the hill climb, was quite entertaining with an especially impressive effort put forward by Vicki Barnes, the lady motorcyclist who won the woman's section.
The wheelstand competition was started off with a very good wheelstand and somersault demonstration by Tristram on the Motocross bike which saw bits fly off in all directions.
After the events, entrants were able to take some time to look at the hundreds of bikes around the grounds and the trade displays put on by Road & Sport, Kens Badges & Bitz, Motorcycle Marketplace Magazine, Cycletreads and Steve Green Photography.
For those who were feeling a little hungry there was plenty of tasty hot food provided by the friendly team from "Onsite Catering" from Auckland, who spent the whole weekend cooking hamburgers & steak sandwiches as well as the main meal on Saturday evening and breakfast for the hardy enthusiasts who where still camped out Sunday morning. A small dedicated team from the Saint Johns Ambulance service where also on hand all weekend just in case anyone had need of First Aid.
Saturday evening there was a prize giving in the big Marque followed by a long and brilliant evenings entertainment by the band "Twisted" from Palmerston North. These guys were really good value and kept the rally goers Rocking till the early hours.

RALLY RESULTS
Burnouts:
1st: Rob Anderson
2nd Murray, VF750.
3rd Mike Harvester Marn, HD.
Burnout, special awards:
Weazel on his 400cc Im-Pus for Attitude.
Darren Moffit for the biggest tyre bang.
Helmet Dash, Male: Pat Ryan.
Helmet Dash, Female: Vicki Barnes.
Wheelstand, Road: Brendan Ward, Lambretta Scooter.
Wheelstand Trail: John Barth.
Mr Cold Kiwi, for Attitude: Steve "McFish" Jones, 1200 Goldwing Hillclimber.
Slow Race: Glen Magson, on a borrowed Ladies bike.
Slow Race runner up: Jason Horan, Suzuki Magic TR50.
Eurobike Voucher: Graham McKenzie.
Hill Climb, Trail Section:
1st Paul Shorter.
2nd Glen Jenkins.
Bonus Prize: Steve Green, TY250, for triple downhill somersault.
Hill Climb, Road Section:
1st Neville Stocker, GPZ.
2nd Dave Lees.
3rd The Burden Brothers for their three up efforts.
Oldest entrant, 69 year old, Lionel Streeter.
Best Dressed Suzuki: Donald Morison's 1200cc Suzuki Bandit Custom.
1st entrant, Mrs S Right from Manaia.
Furthermost travelled, Chris Donovan from Haast.
Oldest Bike, Graeme Staples, 1918, Henderson 4.
Best pre 1980 Kawasaki, Mani Raumati's Z1000.

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27th Annual Cold Kiwi 2001
By Steve Green

The 27th Annual Cold Kiwi was a little quieter than normal due to an unfortunate lack of publicity beforehand, however all those who went enjoyed themselves. Well there was one guy who may not have enjoyed it too much, he arrived early on Friday, had a few drinks then decided to have a go at the Hillclimb on what was reputed to be a rather clapped out Yamaha AG100, ridding with no helmet on. And yes, you guessed it he did not make to the top. He did however make it to the intensive care ward at the local hospital with a broken collarbone, a few damaged ribs and a damaged Spleen.
Strangely enough the real Hill Climb on Saturday saw a swarm of nutters, oops I mean competitors, head up the hill, and some even made it to the top without any more injuries, except one sore ankle. Some like the Suzuki GSX750 ESD powered Mad Max bike seemed to do it with ease, others like the big Harley needed a bit of a push after getting three quarters of the way to the top. Some guys like the ones who tried to get to the top with four people on the bike had limited success, well actually to tell the truth those four crashed out big time before they even got to the steep bit. Some riders tried to climb the hill with two people on the bike, some with three, unfortunately most seemed to run into slight navigational problems along the way. But you really should have seen how fast those spectators could leap out of the way, and they foolishly thought that they would be safe standing way off the side of the track. Not even the pine trees were safe from these guys as they proved a couple of times.
Others like the two guys on their Motocross bikes were real impressive especially in the two lap race they had at the end. They started from the flat start area, went up the right hand track around the top and down the very steep left hand side, then around a marker at the bottom, back up the steep side and down the other track. At this point it was Yamaha YZF426 leading with the Suzuki RM250 close behind and a few seconds later the YZF426 took the win while sliding to a stop at the start line. Unfortunately he kept sliding and overshot the start line, planting, the now doubly water cooled, Motocrosser into the ditch and it's half metre of muddy water.
This same ditch was later used by John from Stratford for the sponsored, Naked Fat Person, Belly Flop Competition, but the less said about that the better.
Later the Motocross guys used the same ditch as a jump which was quite impressive too.
The Annual Eurobike running race up the hill climb hill while wearing a helmet was well attended by the males with Taupo motorcycle shop owner, Darryl August, one of the top finishers. The ladies section had no entries at all which was a bit disappointing for the crowd, especially after the quality of last years pair of entries.
The Wheelstand competition was also very interesting, I never knew a Honda Trail bike could bounce that far, and now I, and the whole crowd, know what the underside of a Vespa looks like. Although I must admit I was very impressed with the full fairing, GSXR1100 Suzuki road bike, two up, on road tyres, on the grass, and yes they did get the front wheel half a metre or more off the dirt. Admittedly at one point I thought they were planning on burying it under the dirt, but the rider held on and stayed upright.
Later for the Burnout competition there were various machines getting seriously abused by their owners, all for the sake of turning a perfectly good tyre into a huge cloud of smoke. Naturally, all done in the best possible taste and with every care possible for the well being of their engines, why I saw one caring owner helping to cool down his engine by lighting his cigarette off the glowing header pipe while the engine was revving up against the rev limiter. The smoke makers included an interesting mix of bikes from a slightly underpowered Suzuki 150 four stroke single though to the trio of stripped down hill climb specials. By the end of the day the volunteer team from Cycletreads had tyres in need of changing on a Honda VTR1000, Suzuki GSX1100, Kawasaki 750 and even one Vespa rear tyre which was smoked until it popped, which for a Vespa takes some doing.
As always, the Cold Kiwi Rally had the usual high quality of hot food provided non stop all weekend by Onsite Caterers from Auckland. An excellent band on Friday night was followed by another excellent band Saturday night and a long and loud fireworks display Saturday evening, which drew many of the crowd out from the main Marque despite a cold drizzle. Other displays on Saturday included the team from Road & Sport Motorcycles in Hamilton, Cycletreads Tyres from Auckland and a big sign from the Central Districts Honda Motorcycle Shop.
Prize giving on Saturday evening was a friendly affair as competitors in the days events where praised for their riding skills or lack thereof.

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28th Annual Cold Kiwi 2001
By Steve Green

The 28th Annual Cold Kiwi Rally was held on September 6th, 7th and 8th at the new Rally site six kilometres West of Waiouru on the Ohakune Highway. The weather for the Rally was exceptional with a fine day on Saturday for the main Rally events and despite a mild frost overnight the weather stayed fine until Sunday.
The first of the events started at noon on Saturday with the Hill Climb up a steep and moderately slippery hill side. The Hill Climb consists of two separate climbs laid out side by side with the right hand side the preferred side for those riders with road tyres on their bike's, while the more daring of the Trail bike riders took the left hand lane which had a huge step mid way up the hill. Some of the more daring, or possibly fool hardy, of the road bike riders also attempted to climb the left hand side. Unfortunately the results for many of those who tried the steeper left hand side involved back flips, face plants and close encounters with Pine trees. Highly entertaining, if somewhat painful. I was particularly impressed with Kerry Stanfield as he fishtailed his Suzuki GSX1100E up the hill on road tyres. Also impressive was Jeff Reid who did one full noise climb on his Honda VTR1000 Firestorm followed by a major crash landing. Tristran Teki and passenger also had a serious crash landing after they tried the hill, two up on Tristran's Yamaha YZF426, unfortunately their effort ended with a huge backwards flip that would have won them a prize at the X Games. Their landing on the other hand !!!.
The wheel stand competition was less painful for competitors, despite the best efforts of Brendan on the up side down Vespa and a couple of the trail bike riders with interesting styles.
The slow race had entrants back on their bikes, however at a much more sedate speed.
Then the burn out competition had the bikes stationary, however their engines were literally on fire with the fire extinguishers needed to put out the flames on one over heated engine. It was a bit hard to tell at times what was happening in the burn out, as sometimes all that could be seen was a huge cloud of tyre smoke with the howling of a hard working engine coming out from inside the cloud.
As usual with the Cold Kiwi Rally's, there were live Bands on Friday and Saturday evenings playing long into the night, then there were the odd howling engines and other strange noises as Rally goer's made their own entertainment through the night.
Around 1200 people took part in the Rally and as always, there was the usual high quality of hot food provided non stop all weekend by Onsite Caterers from Auckland.
Prize giving on Saturday evening was entertaining as commentator Neil Ritchie handed out awards to competitors in the events for their riding skills or lack thereof.

For more information on the Cold Kiwi Rally, visit the Website at www.coldkiwi.co.nz

RESULTS
Rat Bike
1 Chewy's VFR400.
2 Stu McCutcheon.

Cycletreads Burn Out Competition
1 Pogal, Suzuki GSX1100.
2 Justin, Suzuki GSXR400.
3 Simon, Honda CBX750.

Hill Climb
Trail Bike Section
1 Tristran Teki, Yamaha YZF426.

Hill Climb
Road Bike Section
1 Mike Hoebers, Suzuki GS650 Katana
2 Jeff Reid, Honda VTR1000 Firestorm
3 Stu, Honda VFR700 Rat Attack

Wheelie Competition
Road Bike Section
1 Chewy, Honda VTR400
2 Brendan, Vespa

Wheelie Competition
Trail Bike Section
1 Chris Blair, Suzuki RM250
2 Brent Neilson, KTM380

Slow Race, Road Section
Jason Horan, Suzuki 100

Slow Race, Trail Section
Ricky, Honda XR200

Eurobike Helmet Dash
Pat Ryan, Hamilton

Weenie Snatch
1 George & Gavin
2 Mark & Jennifer
3 Lisa & Ian
4 Adrie & David

Oldest Bikes
Two 1941 Indian's ridden from Tauranga by two brothers, Ryan & Daniel.
Paul's 1960, BSA A10.

Oldest Bike & Rider Combination
Bruce Fergusson, age 50, 1966 BSA Hornet.

Best Pre 1980 Kawasaki's
Don McKellar's 1973, H1.
Peter Walton's 1978, Z1000 A2.

Further Most Travelled Entrants
Bridget Burl, Canada.
Torry Hunt, Glasgow, Scotland.
Jen Benson, Geelong, Australia.
Chris Norton, Pukerau, Southland.
Greg Joyce, Warepa, Balclutha.

Youngest Entrants
Jordon Norgrove, 10 months old.
Barbara Linsell, 11 year old.

Cold Kiwi Attitude
Darren Moffat, with "Cold Kiwi" shaved into his head.
Crazy who has a Cold Kiwi clause in his Employment Contract.

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29th Annual Cold Kiwi Rally.
By Steve Green

Over the weekend of September 6th & 7th, the 29th annual Cold Kiwi Rally was held on the "Waione Station" just out of Waiouru. Over a thousand entrants travelled to the site and took part in the weekend's events which ranged from the ever challenging Hill climb to the Burnout competition. Many arrived on Friday despite a constant cold drizzle and a couple of Kilometres of very slippery gravel road into the site.
Entrants ranged from Vespa Scooters through to the gentleman on the brand new, 1300cc, X4 Honda road bike which at one point was sitting in a big cloud of smoke on the burn out pad with the engine barely revving while the rear wheel was doing 190 kph.
Another entrant to get some serious rear wheel speed on the burn out pad was the rider of the Suzuki TL1000 who's Speedo was reading 240 kph, that is, when you could see it through the smoke.
One of the entrants to arrive late Friday night was the guy on the Aprilia Mille, who we thought, had fallen off in the gravel, however, he assured us that the small dent in his fuel tank was from an early crash. Which is also why he had no Speedo, and after all, he said with a smile, why would he need a Speedo on the Aprilia, as its not like it goes fast Eh !.
Others waited till Saturday to arrive and put their tents up around the site, also to the accompaniment of some more morning rain, which cleared well before noon and the start of the hill climb. The rain did make the hill climb very difficult and many riders, demonstrated some extremely artistic and acrobatic manoeuvre's ranging from simple face plants in the mud to high speed bouncing off pine trees.
There was also the guy on the big GSX Suzuki who's steering lock jammed on after he crashed and required some fiddling with the ignition before he could get back down the hill.
Another highly entertaining hill climb entrant was Karl Gibson of Auckland who make three attempts at the hill climb while sitting on the petrol tank of his Yamaha FZ600 with both feet over the handle bars. Needless to say, we were all very very surprised when he crashed on all three occasions. Karl later entered the wheel stand competition on the same bike and was seen a couple of times, riding around the paddock with his feet over the handle bars spinning up the rear tyre.
The helmet dash, on foot up the hill climb, was also a slippery affair, with most of the entrants looking a bit muddy when they finally came back down.
After the events, entrants were able to take some time to look at the hundreds of bikes around the grounds and the trade displays put on by, Kens Badges & Bitz and Cycletreads Tyres.
For those who were feeling a little hungry there was plenty of tasty hot food provided by the friendly team from "Onsite Catering" from Auckland, phone 0800-924-078, who spent the whole weekend cooking hamburgers & steak sandwiches as well as the main meal on Saturday evening and breakfast for the hardy enthusiasts who where still camped out Sunday morning. A small dedicated team from the Saint Johns Ambulance service where also on hand all weekend just in case anyone had need of First Aid.
Saturday evening there was a prize giving in the big Marque followed by the evenings entertainment. For more details and full results visit the Website: www.coldkiwi.co.nz

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30th Annual Cold Kiwi Rally.
By Steve Green

Over the weekend of September 4th & 5th, the 30th annual Cold Kiwi Rally was held on the "Waione Station" six Kilometre's out of Waiouru towards Ohakune Over fourteen hundred entrants travelled to the site and took part in the weekend's events which ranged from the ever challenging Hill Climb to the Burnout competition. Many, like myself, arrived on Friday evening, braving the very slippery and muddy gravel road leading into the site. Friday evening was cold enough to partially freeze the water in my water bottle despite it being inside a chilly bin in my tent, which meant that it was possibly not the best weather to be sleeping in a tent. None of the entrants I spoke to where too worried by the weather as they were all enjoying the good company, hundreds of motorcycles, the fire works display in the sky later in the evening and a good supply of hot food and cool drinks available all evening. For those who were feeling a little hungry there was plenty of hot food provided by the friendly team from "Onsite Catering" from Auckland, phone 0800-924-078, who spent the whole weekend cooking hamburgers & steak sandwiches as well as the main meal on Saturday evening and breakfast for the hardy enthusiasts who where still camped out Sunday morning. A small dedicated team from the Saint Johns Ambulance service were also on hand all weekend just in case anyone had need of First Aid.
Saturday started off with a light fall of snow, then at noon the days events started with the hill climb up a very slippery hill, steep enough to challenge any rider willing to give it a go. As well as the usual off road bikes there were a few hard core riders on Road bikes as well as a trio of Trials Riders who were there to give a display of their Trials Skills. The trio include the current New Zealand Champion, Warren Laugesen, top Kiwi Trials rider Carl Robson, and veteran Trials rider John Ravenscroft who acted as commentator for the main Trials Show. On the hill climb John also demonstrated how to park your bike upside down and bury your face in the mud beside your bike, a very interesting manoeuvre. John was coming down the hill when the front wheel slid out from under him planting him in the mud while his bike flipped and landed upside down, balanced on the handlebars with both wheels pointing skywards.
For the Trials display the Ruapehu Motorcycle Club had organised a collection of large boulders, wooden pallets and a pair of large tyres off some form of heavy loader. Both Warren Laugesen and Carl Robson thrilled the crowd with the abilities of their bikes and their own impressive riding skills.
Other events included the slow race, the wheel stand competition, helmet dash and the ever popular burn out competition. The burnout competition had an added feature this year when the little green, Honda VFR700, "Rat Attack" dropped a conrod out of the engine while red lining on the burnout pad. The bike was then pushed back off the hill onto the flat ground, turned upside down, given a severe beating with an axe, then set on fire, much to the amusement of the onlookers.
Saturday evening there was the usual prize giving in the big Marque followed by the evenings musical entertainment which was provided by singing legend "Bullfrog Rata" who's very powerful singing voice, excellent guitar playing and top notch backing band kept the crowd rocking for most of the night.
Saturday evening also saw another big fireworks display as well as a huge bonfire and one very unhappy Rally goer who was spotted while I was standing in line waiting for Saturday's roast pork dinner. A large possum who had obviously made it's home in the huge pile of wood and branches that was Saturday's bonfire, sprinted out the side of the pile, slipped between the crowds feet and headed towards the nearest patch of pine trees, possibly due to the organisers having just set fire to his home. Sunday morning dawned cold and damp and the camping area's soon cleared out as the hundreds of motorcyclists packed up their wet tents and headed off home looking forwards to a hot shower and the 31st Cold Kiwi Rally next year.
For more details and full results visit the Website: www.coldkiwi.co.nz

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