Sporting Trials tryouts get the go-ahead

Barry Simmonds has planned a Have a Go day for anyone interested in finding out more about Sporting Trials. Photo / Leanne Warr

Sporting Trials are set to go ahead in the Tararua District with a sanctioned event and a Have a Go day scheduled for early February.

Barry Simmonds, who often participated in events in Taranaki, had been keen to start up similar ones in Dannevirke last year, but a run of bad weather had meant they had to be postponed but he was hopeful they could now go ahead.

Sporting Trials, which originated in the UK, is a sport that involves purpose-built, lightweight vehicles, driven on a marked-out course on hilly terrain.

Sidney Hirst (right) and Matthew Hopkins at an event in 2021. Photo/ Supplied

The sport has now been going on in New Zealand for 25 years.

Simmonds said he would be at the Wheels with Attitude event at the Dannevirke A&P Showgrounds on January 29, with three trial cars on display, so anyone interested in the sport could go along and find out what it was all about.

A Have a Go day is planned for Saturday, February 4, at 350 Maunga Rd, with a sanctioned event being held on the Sunday.

Simmonds said he was grateful for the support of Grant from Massie Farms and Craig from Buckeridge Surfacing & Engineering Ltd.

“Because without their support we wouldn’t be able to do this.”