Whanganui welcomes returning Renegades Muster bikepackers

Hanmer Springs' Evan Woolf came home first. Photo / Supplied

The Renegades Muster event attracted about 70 cyclists who set out from Whanganui's Durie Hill Tower on an 844km round trip across the central North Island hinterland.

Pete Maindonald, co-organiser of last week's event, said not all riders were "biking through the night", however.

"I called into shearing quarters where some people were staying on Sunday, and they were on party pace.

"That's more of the social aspect than just straight racing.

"We are trying to foster a race and the top 10 or so riders really push themselves, but if you just want to follow the route at a slightly more relaxed pace, that's welcome as well."

A handful of people had pulled out en route, Maindonald said.

"The bikes get a pretty hard time and some things just break through fatigue.

"One of our most experienced riders pulled the plug at National Park because of a knee injury.

"It was easy to get a bus from there too, rather than trying to push on to Ruatiti and having to extract himself out of there somehow."

Maindonald said the mental game was a big aspect of a race of this size and if that wasn't right, everything became much harder.

"On the flip side of that, really hard stuff can be easy if you're in a good headspace.

"The passion and the focus are there."

Event co-organiser Pete Maindonald says bikes get a pretty hard time in the race. Photo / Supplied

Riders said the hardest stretch of the course this year was the 42nd Traverse in Tongariro National Park.

Hanmer Springs' Evan Woolf took first place, finishing in two and a half days. The first female home was Amanda Wells, in three and a half days.

"Evan turns 40 next week," Maindonald said.

"He slowed down quite a bit towards the end. At Ohakune, he was 45-50 minutes ahead of the guys behind him, but that narrowed to about 15 minutes.

"If the race had been another 30km they might have caught him."

Maindonald organised the event with Rangitīkei resident Tahi Cunningham.

He said he would be trying to convince her to do it all again next year.

"There are definitely benefits to this region.

"I was at the Pātea Four Square on Friday and a whole bunch of riders each shelled out $20-$30 on the counter. Even if only half the riders stopped there, that can still help."

While it was great to have a much bigger turnout than last year's event, which had 38 participants, it was important the event didn't grow too fast, Maindonald said.

"You're going through remote areas and if there are a lot of people, it can have an impact. You want to leave no trace.

"To help the community and help the riders, we need to keep things in the right proportions."