Te Awa River Ride Light Night
Winter has a way of talking you out of leaving the house.
Then someone hands you a bike, a set of lights, and a very persuasive glow stick, and suddenly the dark becomes the whole point.
Wag the dog, left, one of several sculptures on Te Awa River Ride, watches over participants waiting to start the night time trek last year. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Light Night is equal parts adventure and community parade, where the cold air pinches your cheeks, the trail goes properly dark in places, and the brightest thing you see is the creativity people strap to their wheels, their jackets, and their dogs.
The Te Awa River Ride’s popular Light Night event returns to Cambridge in late July, and organisers are expecting another big turnout for what has quickly become one of the town’s most anticipated winter gatherings.
The free, family-friendly event starts at the Gaslight Theatre and invites people to walk, cycle, scoot or roll along a two-kilometre stretch of the trail towards the Velodrome and back.
Food trucks, live music and children’s activities will create a hub at the start and finish, while along the trail riders and walkers will encounter illuminated sections, installations and plenty of opportunities to stop and warm up. Hot drinks are part of the experience, and so too is the challenge of navigating stretches of real darkness.
Te Awa River Ride Charitable Trust trail manager Sarah Ulmer said the appeal of Light Night was its simplicity.
Olympic gold medallist and Te Awa River Ride trail manager Sarah Ulmer on the Te Awa River Ride track between the Velodrome and Hooker Road. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
“We want to give the community a great excuse to get out moving together in winter and experience Te Awa in a completely unique way,” she said.
Not everything is lit, which is part of the point.
“Only parts of the path will be lit up and some will be pitch black, so even if you’re strolling, not rolling, everyone must bring lights,” Ulmer said.
The event has grown rapidly since it was first held three years ago. Numbers have risen each year and thousands now turn out.
Participants are encouraged to decorate not just their bikes, but themselves, their scooters and even their dogs, and prizes are awarded for the best glowing creations.
The Cambridge ride is no longer the only one lighting up Te Awa. A Ngāruawāhia Light Night will be held in August, giving northern communities their own chance to experience the trail after dark.
Starting from The Point on the lower Waikato Esplanade, the shorter 1.4km route heads towards Belt St and back, offering a similar mix of lights, movement and mid-winter atmosphere.
Ulmer said the expansion showed how strongly communities had taken to the idea.
“It’s not a race. It’s just a cool chance to get together with your mates and family and enjoy Te Awa like it’s never been seen before.”
Emily Cameron, Louie Ulmer and Lily Cameron behind the smokey eel, one of two James Wright sculptures on Te Awa. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Te Awa River Ride Light Night
