Today marks the first day of the challenge, a five-day rally of motorsports events — said to be the largest motorcycle rally in the southern hemisphere.
About 50-60 of those riding south were believed to be members of the Tribesmen MC gang.
Burt Munro Challenge chairman Craig Hyde said he did not believe the gang members were rolling south specifically for the event, despite the police notice.
"We’ve always had a ‘no patches, no glass, no dogs’ rule at the event, so anyone that ever does turn up with a patch we ask them to turn their jackets inside out, and we’ve never had any problem with any of them," Mr Hyde said.
Burt Munro organisers were in constant communication with police during the event, and had a meeting with officers before the event, he said.
There would be breathalyser stations during the event so riders could check they were good to go before riding.
Overall, Mr Hyde was not worried about the behaviour of attendees, with one local coffee shop singing their praises.
"They were saying, [Burt Munro attendees] are the most laid back people you’ll ever come across,"
He believed more people would travel to Southland this year compared to previous events because last year the rally had been cancelled.
"For some people it’s their yearly fix, so people will be looking forward to it, and I think it will be a bit bigger for that reason,
"I think we’re expecting about 10,000 people, maybe more."
The rally begins at 8.30am today with a track day at Teretonga Park in Invercargill and will be revving up for more events at 10am tomorrow with the hill climb championship in Flagstaff Rd, Bluff.
In 2019, Southern district police slammed the actions of patched gang members as they rode south for the event, when they rode their motorcycles the wrong way up a one-way Dunedin street, failed to stop at red lights and obstructed traffic.
Police issued a warning ahead of the event, reminding drivers public roads were not the place to "test the limits of your bike".
They would be monitoring gang activity as members travelled to the event — despite the event having no links to gangs, they expected a number of patched members to attend because of a shared interest in motorcycles.
