{"id":276848,"date":"2026-02-10T12:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/276848\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:08:09","slug":"rotoruas-blue-lake-multisport-festival-celebrates-40-years-of-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/276848\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua\u2019s Blue Lake Multisport Festival celebrates 40 years of racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dalziel said while the gear had changed the heart of the event hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wetsuits are more sophisticated, and now I\u2019ve got a lovely tri bike with lots of gears, it\u2019s very light, and a great little aerodynamic bike.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why she thought the event had endured for 40 years, Dalziel said it was because it had an \u201cawesome course\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lake is beautiful to swim in and it\u2019s a little challenging ride, which is okay. The run around the lake is also beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dalziel still competes in several triathlons each year, along with ocean swims, waka ama and running events.<\/p>\n

She is also a current world champion in her age group<\/a> at the World Aquabike Championships. <\/p>\n

\u201cAge is not a limit, you can keep going and still enjoy sport even when you get older.\u201d<\/p>\n

When organisers challenged her to return for the 50th anniversary, when she\u2019ll be 86, her response was immediate.<\/p>\n

\"MargaretMargaret (Maggie) Dalziel has travelled from Tauranga for Blue Lake Multisport Festival since 1986. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow there\u2019s a goal! This is one of the best courses and I love a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brothers Shaun, Daniel and Jamie of the van Praagh family made it a weekend to remember, claiming all three male podium spots in the non-wetsuit section of the 2km open water swim. <\/p>\n

The family have been coming to the event for eight years, and with parents Paul and Nicky also taking part, it truly was a family affair.<\/p>\n

Shaun van Praagh told the Rotorua Daily Post it was a \u201cnice little surprise\u201d to share the podium with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s usually just a bit of fun and participating, so to cross the line and then figure out we\u2019re all on the podium was definitely one to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the event had become a family tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of little kids in the mix now as well, and we\u2019re all fighting off the dad bods, so it\u2019s nice to have something in the calendar every year that keeps us coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe van Praagh brothers Shaun, Daniel and Jamie claiming all three male podium spots in the non-wetsuit section of the 2km open water swim. Photo \/ ScottieT Photography<\/p>\n

Long-time competitor Ray Hewlett has also supported the event for many years<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing my first tri since Ironman in 2017, I was chuffed just to finish,\u201d Hewlett said in a statement.<\/p>\n

He said at the age of 78 he felt \u201cprivileged\u201d to make the start line and be part of the 40th anniversary weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bonus to beat a few younger competitors.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rotorua Triathlon Club president Nicola Smallwood said in a statement these stories captured exactly why the event stood the test of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis event has never just been about results,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about families and friends racing together, having fun and enjoying the special place that is Rotorua and Lake Tikitapu together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dalziel said while the gear had changed the heart of the event hadn\u2019t. \u201cThe wetsuits are more sophisticated,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[24041,15497,9632,5131,13207,42489,111,139,69,1118,3512,38715,213,1530],"class_list":["post-276848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-24041","tag-blue","tag-celebrates","tag-festival","tag-lake","tag-multisport","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-racing","tag-rotoruas","tag-sports","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}