1-3 March
Insights By Ian & Richard, Photo's By Group

This leg saw the biggest group yet exploring the remote area of Pureora Forest in the heart of the King Country. 29 riders predominantly from Waikato, Rotorua, & Tauranga Hospitals were joined by Perry and the team from Sothern Cross Healthcare and Enovis (Mathys/Lima)

There were a few late swaps due to illness, but here's the group roll call: left to right

Carl Jones (Waikato), Yvonne Hong (Waikato), David Lees (Tauranga), Richard Keddell (Tauranga), Wendy Keddell (Tauranga), Meyer (Tauranga), John Etherington (Sth Cross), Thin Hong (Waikato), Claire Newton (Tauranga), Perry Turner (Nelson), Burdinia McDonnell (Tauranga), Joseph Galley (Tauranga), Lily (Tauranga), Jimmy Bartle-McDonnell (Tauranga), Frank Bartle-McDonnell (Tauranga), Stephen McGrath (Waikato), Tony Lamberton (Tauranga), Ross Lamberton (Tauranga), Jules Lees (Tauranga Holding the Baton), Patrick Fell (Mathys, Enovis), Ian Galley (Tauranga), Andy Stokes (Tauranga), Tania Stokes (Tauranga), Lou James (Sth Cross), Hugh Griffin (Enovis), Manoj Patel (Sth Cross).

Missing from the group photo are:
Francois Van der Westhuizen (Rotorua), Martyn Sims (Rotorua) & Viren Kasipersad (Rotorua)  

...and here they are!

Physically the trail is a mix of easy and intermediate riding covering 84km's over 2 days.
There's a staggering 35 bridges to cross & we pedaled up 1,412m,  with the down ride being 1,765m.

But stats alone don't do justice to this special part of NZ. Local Māori, knew this mountainous area as Te Pureora-ō-Kahu, the place where Kahu was restored to health after searching for her lost son.
Pureora Forest was one of the last areas in the North Island to be harvested. In 1946 the loggers moved in and cranked their saws, extensively logging large tracts of native forest & replanting exotic species.

Remarkably, large tracts of native forest were still intact when in 1978 environmentalists climbed high into the canopy to protest against further logging. The government responded by preserving the remaining indigenous blocks, now managed by DOC and known as Pureora Forest Park. It is one of the rarest, most precious stands of broad-leaf podocarp forest in the North Island, and one of the last remaining intact podocarp forests in the world. The forest is home to a range of native wildlife, including some remarkable birdlife, many of them rare and reclusive.

Friday night we all came together for a great dinner at the lodge & enjoyed a talk from Russell on the history and significance of the area. The next morning after a hearty breakfast we  were shuttled to Pureora for the start of our epic journey.

The cycle trail was completed in 2013 & eight of the bridges we crossed were iconic suspension bridges  - a couple are over 100m long & the longest at 141m is the Maramataha Bridge.

The first 14km climbed almost 500m up through beautiful virgin rainforest studded with large Totora trees and a significant amount of birdlife.

Richard Keddell took a liking to the historic crawler tractor abandoned in the 1940’s
(which would definitely be a great addition to his property in Tauranga).

The E-bikers clearly had a big advantage on the climb sections, so Wendy and Richard impressed everyone with their ability & stamina using standard borrowed bikes.

Wendy's bike even featured a home made gel seat complete with duct tape...

Most took the opportunity of walking the additional 260m up to the summit of Mt Pureora (1165m).
The wind was howling but we were rewarded with spectacular 360 degree views.

A few more km's of pedaling brought us up to the trails highest point of 971m and we were rewarded with an exhilarating downhill ride to the first of the massive suspension bridges.

Several climbs later we arrived at the Lodge to a much needed warm shower, fresh clothes, pizza’s and the best tasting beer you can imagine.

The brownie desert was to die for and guilt free given the exertions of the day.
The diverse group spent a happy evening mingling & sharing stories over food and wine - which has been a massive highlight of all the relay legs.

We have had an amazing run of weather  - but our luck finally ran out. Heavy rain overnight left us with many puddles of varying depth to ride through. The upside was seeing how the bush lit up with vibrant sparkling greens and birdlife. Rain was not enough to dampen our high spirits.

Andy and Tania Stokes spent their 23rd wedding anniversary riding together through the mud with massive smiles on their faces. 

Industry partners Hugh Griffin & Patrick Fell (Enovis/Mathys) bypassed the nitty & went straight to gritty.

We then suffered the first injury of the trip with my son falling and fracturing his clavicle. The health and safety plan kicked in and he had both a shoulder surgical opinion followed by a paediatric surgeon opinion in short succession. Meyer was a DOC ranger on the track for many years and guided us to the road which was luckily only 800m away where he was swiftly picked up and transported to the shuttle hub for analgesia. The PLB stayed unused fortunately. He is doing well with conservative management.

My run of misfortune continued when a large pothole caused a blowout on the way home.

It was an epic adventure, beautiful scenery and a great track. The highlight again for me was seeing surgeons and allied healthcare industry mixing and sharing conversation food, drinks and fun in the great outdoors.

Russell from the Timber Trail Lodge has been incredibly helpful with organising the trip. Their service was exceptional and they generously donated 10% of their gross takings to Wishbone - an amazing gesture!
I am sure everyone on the ride would highly recommend using their services if Timber Trail is still on your bucket list.

It was also great to have another relaxed and fun opportunity to mix with our generous sponsors from Southern Cross Healthcare and Enovis (Mathys/Lima) and to have them experience first-hand the Relay vision & why we are doing this.

Message from the Wishbone Trust Chair & 2024 Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (for services to orthopaedics): Richard Keddell

After watching the planning for the Wishbone Relay from the side, it was great to finally take part in one of the legs. What a great couple of days we had on the Timber Trail! Not only was the scenery and track stunning, and the effort exhausting, the opportunity to share the experience with a group of colleagues was a special feature of the weekend. It made me realise an unexpected value of this event, bringing members of our association from different regions together to experience an event not focused on our day to day work. Equally to share this experience with some of the industry sponsors away from work or typical conferences was another highlight. Clearly this was part of the direction Perry and Ian wanted the Relay to follow and my thanks to all involved in the organization. From the highs and lows of the weather to the highs and lows of the cycling effort, not a negative word was heard all weekend. I’m sure the end was a bit of a low for Joe Galley with his injury, but he bore that with the mark of a trouper and will ride again soon.