Tour of Waikato, Stage 1 (Cambridge)
BigRingVR’s Tour of Waikato is a ten-stage loop through the Waikato and the King Country, in the North Island of New Zealand. It starts in Cambridge, where a velodrome was opened in April 2014 by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The town hosted a round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in the 2015–16 season, and New Zealand’s national road race championships from 2020 to 2022. From Cambridge the stages run south into the King Country and loop back north through the Waikato.
Stage 1 leaves Cambridge, the home town of Sarah Ulmer, and heads south-west across farmland to Te Awamutu, where she trained at the town’s velodrome. In 2004, in Athens, Ulmer became the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold medal, in the 3 km individual pursuit, setting a world record of 3:24.5 in the final. Te Awamutu’s name is often translated as ‘the river cut short’, after the end of the navigable Mangapiko Stream. The town’s Old St John’s Church dates from 1853. The stage carries on to Kihikihi, named after the cicada and once the home of the Maori leader Rewi Maniapoto, and ends on the Otorohanga Road, where stage 2 continues south.
Region: Waikato
City: Cambridge
Distance: 34.12 km
Elevation Gain: 267 m
Elevation Loss: 258 m
Difficulty: 179 (Easy)
FIETS Index: 0.07 FIETS
Avg Grade: 1.19 %
Max cat climb: 5
Min elevation: 34 m
Max elevation: 96 m
Ride Category: Rollers