Around the city are the remains of medieval walls and towers , including the 13th-century Council Tower , so the intrepid Kiwi travellers no doubt had plenty of memorable sight-seeing to conduct too . It has been an annual pilgrimage for some of the New Zealand riders and , in addition to racing with the Silver Grade , South Waikato man Clarke was classified as a “ legend ”. ‘ Romaniacs Legends ’ are amateur competitors in the Silver , Bronze or Iron race classes who have competed in a minimum of five Red Bull Romaniacs events . “ The final hill climb area this year was just psycho ,” said Clarke . “ I couldn ’ t get up one of the banks and spent about half an hour with about 10 other riders trying to get up and wrecked my bike in the process . “ Day one was going really good until the final Silver Class uphill after it had rained . I reckon I wasted about an hour and a quarter when my spark plug fouled , and my battery went flat . The thunderstorms on day one were the worst I have ever seen . “ On day two I couldn ’ t get up the first real big
hill at the 19-kilometre mark . I made my way around the side . losing about half an hour . “ Day three went better , but Bryce ( Williams ) and I rode together for most of the day and had to help each other several times . It was nearly impossible to do on your own and , to be honest , I don ’ t know if I would have got to the end without his help . “ Day four was just survival for me and I couldn ’ t have ridden any slower and , when I did , I just fell over . “ The traction this year was just unbelievable . A couple of times I stalled on an uphill and it just flipped over backwards . I won ’ t be doing Silver Class again that is for sure . I maybe will do the Bronze Class next year so I can at least race it . “ I shouldn ’ t complain . It wasn ’ t called ‘ The Impossible ’ for nothing . It has been 20 years since the first Red Bull Romaniacs and that ’ s nine times now for me . “ Why do I keep doing it ? It ’ s not just the race , it ’ s the country , the scenery , the people and just a great place to go . A big thanks goes to my biggest sponsor , my wife Adele , for helping with everything .”
40 KIWI RIDER