A new multi-day mountain biking event, starting on The Strand in Tauranga and travelling throughout the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel, is set to confirm the region's status with international tourists as a go-to destination for outdoor adventure.

Kiwi Crusade is the first event of its kind to take place in the North Island.

Event director Darryl Gove. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Teams, spread across five categories (men's, women's, mixed, masters and Kiwi), will spend seven days riding through tar seal, gravel, single track and 4WD roads in stages, starting and finishing on Tauranga's waterfront.

Event director Darryl Gove says it's a unique opportunity for any mountain biker, as it has never been done before in New Zealand, and allows riders to see parts of the country the average person isn't able to.

He's already had riders from Kenya, Scotland and Phuket enter the Crusade, as well as interest from Russia and England's top teams.

'It's that sense of adventure and accomplishment to be able to say you rode 500km-plus over seven days,” says Darryl.

'You'll be doing 100km one day, and come back the next day, and the next day, sleeping in tents and forgoing creature comforts of a single-stage race. Plus it allows you to build friendships with people from all over the world.”

Although competitors will be ‘roughing it' in tents, the event has a race budget just shy of $1 million, to ensure the riders are well catered for and can focus on the riding alone.

'You've got to have tents in place, marquees, medical assistance, trucks that can move everything, people who can do it, three meals a day, water points on the route – it all adds up.”

And those are just the necessities. There are also showers, a chill zone (complete with bean bags), wheelie bins that act as ice baths and a five-to-six seater spa pool.

But for what gets spent out, three times as much is expected to come in to the region through accommodation, car hire, restaurant outings and exploring the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel pre and post-race.

South African-born Darryl is a serial multi-stage mountain bike competitor, having entered the joBerg2c (a nine-day mountain bike adventure through four provinces in South Africa) six times.

He's been doing this kind of thing for 10 years, and when he moved to New Zealand 18 months ago, he saw an opportunity to bring his passion here for others to enjoy.

'This is God's own country for mountain biking, so I had a look around, had a chat with guys in the field and organisers of the joBerg2c, looked at infrastructure and saw it wasn't impossible to do one here – it's just that no-one knew what to do. It's all in the logistics. It's a big undertaking.”

Sun Media is proud to be the local media sponsor of this event. Darryl is also currently looking for further sponsorship – to enquire, contact him by phone on: 021 084 82542 or email via: info@kiwicrusade.co.nz

To register for this event, or to find out further information, visit: www.kiwicrusade.co.nz

Darryl is putting the call out to all mountain bikers and enthusiasts in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel to come up with a slogan for the Kiwi Crusade. The chosen slogan will win the participant free entry into the Kiwi Crusade for their team (worth $3600).

To enter, email your contact details and slogan to: editorials@thesun.co.nz before November 30.