New Zealand's biggest multisport festival is now the official national championships for the sport.

Next month's ThermaTech 3D Rotorua Multisport Festival, now into its fourth year and again boasting $75,000 in prizes and giveaways, will also see the introduction of a dedicated paddle-boarding division.

On-water action from last year's ThermaTech 3D Rotorua Multisport Festival, which now doubles as the New Zealand multisport championships. Photos by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media Services.

'Competitors have always been able to use any craft in the water stage but we're keen to recognise the surge in SUP usage around the country,” says organiser Neil Gellatly.

'They've now got their own dedicated division in the 25km grassroots race and we're keen to showcase our magnificent Rotorua playground to a new group of athletes.”

The June 1 festival's feature 50km race - with a 9km paddle around Tikitapu [Blue Lake], a 30km mountain bike through the stunning Whakarewarewa Forest and an 11km run – will again boast some of New Zealand's greatest athletes.

Two-time winners Richard and Elina Ussher have confirmed their attendance, while top Coast to Coast performers Sam Clark [Whakatane] and Anyika Thomsen [Hawke's Bay] will also race for the New Zealand multisport championships.

The event will also showcase the next generation of multi-discipline athletes, with national championships to be decided in under-15 and under19 divisions.

The festival has bucked the downward trend of multisport races in New Zealand in recent years, holding firm at around 1000 competitors for the last two years after a big jump in the first year.

Gellatly puts that down to the broad nature of the annual Queens Birthday weekend festival, which offers event experiences for entire families rather than just elites.

Along with the 50km and 25km multisport races, there's a 2km under-10 fun run, 5.5km and 10.5km trail runs and walks, a half marathon, a standalone 9km paddle and 31km mountain bike race, as well as a 42km duathlon.

'Long gone are the days of mum or dad disappearing into the wilderness for days on end – parents want to share their adventures with their kids and people want to line up and race with their mates,” says the Dare to Sweat Events director.

"Rotorua is just an enormous, scenery-loaded playground and once people get a taste for it, they can't wait to bring their friends and families back."

For more information and to enter, see www.3drotorua.co.nz.