Wild Kiwi race at Whangarei Heads a success: organiser Mike Davis

David Nielsen finished second in the 21km Wild Kiwi race at Whangarei Heads. PHOTO/TANIA WHYTE

The Wild Kiwi has been deemed a rousing success again by organiser Mike Davis.

Around 700 competitors took to the Whangarei Heads course to take on any of the nine events on offer.

Davis said the event drew a strong crowd as they look to champion some different components of the race like the 15km and 21km runs as well as the 3km children's dash.

"Luckily the weather held out and we got to see lots of smiling faces from competitors throughout the day," he said.

"We got about 700 competitors out there running and you can't ask for much more than that.

"The kids 3km dash got lead out by Winnie the Pooh and we are hoping we can get even more competing in that event going forward."

The main drawcard was the individual multisport event, which combined a 12km sea kayak, 25km mountain bike and 14km run.

Rodrigo Jaca Gonzalez won the men's division while Whangarei's Adelle Allbon was the leading women home.

Davis said it was a great performance from the local.

Meanwhile two-time defending multisport winner Bruce Cole-Baker switched to the 21km race following an injury but that didn't halt his dominance as he won the event by eight minutes from David Nielsen.

The strong run impressed Davis.

"Bruce is the local DOC (Department of Conservation) ranger and to take on what is probably New Zealand's toughest half marathon course with an injury and perform at that level was just brilliant," he said.

Meanwhile one of the more noteworthy performances came via 14-year-old Jemma Petty.

The Whangarei Girls' High School student finished second in the 15km race which was ultimately won by Ady McKenzie.

Davis said Petty's effort was an absolute standout on the day.

"Ady is a local running legend here in Northland and has been a fairly dominant runner on the scene but Jemma wasn't far off beating her," he said.

"Jemma came in ahead of all the men in that category so it was a special performance."

Daniel Blundell and Sandy Hitchcock were the leading runners in the 8km race while Team Hard Done By, made up of Matthew Andrew, Ruth Hutchinson and Henry Tarbotton, took out the team multisport event.

Davis said the volunteers played a big role in the event's success.

"The volunteers again did a great job helping out and lots of happy faces out there from all competitors doing there thing in this beautiful part of the world that is Whangarei Heads," he said.

"Bring on Wild Kiwi 2019!"