It's called the Winter Warrior and it's held in spring. But the season is the last thing on competitors' minds as they work out for 24 hours non-stop this Labour Weekend.

'We did a smaller version in winter and we've crossed it through to spring,” says Mount CrossFit's Luke McGruer.

'Next year we'll probably run it at a different time. This is like a trial run for a bigger event next year. We held a 12-hour event with our members last year which was really well received.”

Mount CrossFit's 24-hour Winter Warrior, which gets underway today at 8am, will see 30 teams of three complete workouts at as many as 18 stations based at different locations around Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.

'There'll be some stations at TECT All Terrain Park, all over the Mount area, on the beach, around the park, at our gym on Newton St, and at the swimming pools as well,” says Luke.

'Competitors will do the best they can at each stand and they'll be scored. Their overall score will confirm their placing.”

Luke says athletes from throughout New Zealand have registered for the event, with one Mount team and two Tauranga teams.

'Contestants don't have to be part of CrossFit to join this one. We've got groups from totally different sports that have jumped in.

'It's not really a CrossFit comp, the exercises are totally different and it's all about the endurance.”

There could be running, swimming, lifting giant logs and weights, but Luke is keeping exact work outs under wraps.

'The contestants don't actually know what any of the events are yet, they don't find out until they get to the stand.

'They've got a rough idea of what goes on but they don't know exactly each workout. The workouts are constantly varied; the idea is anything could come up and you should be ready for whatever it is.”

Luke says the biggest challenge for competitors will be the duration of the event.

'We've purposefully made the workouts not too technical because of the lack of sleep. But it's still going to be pretty tough for them.”

His tips? 'The only real tip would be to eat whenever they can. There's not going to be much time for rest, but between stations they'll really want to get food in and just support each other.”