Olympic mountain biker Kashi Leuchs will add an elite status to the third annual Otago Peninsula Challenge tomorrow morning.
Leuchs (30), a professional mountain biker for eight years, has been riding internationally since 1995 and has competed at 13 world championships.
His world ranking is 17 but two months before the Beijing Olympics he was in the top six.
Leuchs is back in Dunedin for four months, his longest period back home since leaving to pursue his cross-country mountain-biking career overseas in 1997.
He is keen to take part in some long-distance events while he is in Dunedin, and the 43km mountain-bike race over the picturesque peninsula hills will test his endurance.
The challenge is a once-a-year opportunity to traverse the peninsula across a large measure of private land, from Smaills beach to Taiaroa Head.
It is the only occasion for which the landowners allow public access to the land. It has proven popular and this year competitor numbers have increased dramatically.
The entries in all categories - mountain bike, run and walk - are up from about 500 last year to 725 this year.
The biggest increase is in the non-competitive walk.
The mountain-bike event is the first round of the South Island Cross-country Cup series. Leuchs will test the resolve of the country's top cross-country riders tomorrow.
The New Zealand Mountain Bike Cup comprises six cross-country and six downhill events (three in each of the North and South Islands) in January and February.
The series will end with the national championships in Nelson next month.
The North Island leg of the competition has been completed, and Dunedin is the first venue of the South Island leg.
Leuchs will be challenged by Marcus Roy (Invercargill), who is one of the country's best cross-country riders.
Also in the field is Jon Richardson (Dunedin), who specialises in point-to-point-style events and knows this terrain in detail.
He was third in 2007 and fifth last year.
The men's elite field also includes Brendon Sharratt and Tim Madgwick, of Christchurch, Ash Hough (Papamoa), Tony Hogg (Dunedin) and Scott Green (Rotorua).
In the elite women's race, Dunedin's Sara MacDonald will be keen to complete her hat trick after winning the first two events.
She will be challenged by Erin Greene, who will also be competing on home turf. The challenge will come from a race-fit Samara Sheppard (Wellington) and Cathy Hamer (West Coast).
In the age-group categories, rising stars such as Logan Horn (Christchurch), Locky McArthur (Auckland) and Jeff Notman (Dunedin) have a rare opportunity to measure themselves against the elite field over the same distance.
Notman won the junior men's section last year.
The favourite for the 23km run is Richard Hendry (Dunedin). Other contenders are Dunedin's Andrew Lonie, Geoff Williamson, Andrew Hall and Ake Fagereng.
Sue Cuthbert stands out in the women's race.
More than 100 volunteers help organise the event, spear-headed by the Otago Peninsula Lions Club, Mountain Biking Otago and Athletics Otago.
Peninsula Challenge
The facts
Mountain bike
Start: Smaills beach (long course), 10am; Allans beach (short course), 10.30am.
Distance: 43km (long course), 23km (short course ).
Winning time last year: Ashley Whitehead, 2hr 04min 14sec.
Run
Start: Allans beach, 10am.
Distance: 23km.
Winning time last year: John Winsbury, 1hr 33min 30sec.
Walk
Start: Allans beach, 9am.
Distance: 15km.
