Trekkers converge on Wairarapa for MS cause

The Great New Zealand Trek is coming to Wairarapa early next year with up to 300 walkers, horse riders and cyclists converging on the district.

This year's leg of the now eight-year-old trek for multiple sclerosis (MS), will start in Alfredton on February 23 and weave its way to Lake Ferry to finish on March 3, with a day off along the journey in Martinborough.

The trek will be on its final North Island leg, having started in 2006 at Cape Reinga.

It takes in a new portion of the country each year as it makes its way towards Bluff.

Last year the trek started at the historic Smedley Station in Waipawa and ended at Akitio, raising a total of around $31,000 for MS, a progressive, debilitating disease which is one of the most common central nervous system diseases among young adult New Zealanders.

No cure has yet been found and the trek helps fund research into finding one.

Joint organiser Barry Scott, of Dannevirke, was in Masterton yesterday drumming up support for the trek and distributing flyers. He said volunteers from all walks of life take part in the trek, including professionals.

"One woman comes out from Australia every year to take part and four women arrive from Invercargill," he said.

The route of the trek will be marked with pink ribbons as it heads through Wairarapa, allowing trekkers to move at their own pace with the support of marshals on horseback and quad bikes.

The marshals will include medics, vets and farriers and a caterer from Waitomo follows the trek each day providing on-the-spot meals.

After leaving Alfredton on February 23, the trek travels through Bideford, Wainuioru, Gladstone, Martinborough and Dyerville before finishing at Lake Ferry.