Rally in doubt after fatality

The organiser of a motorcycle rally in which a rider was killed south of Nelson says he is "absolutely shocked" by the death and is likely to pull the pin on the event.

Norman Going, 44, of Kawakawa was killed on Sunday afternoon in a crash on Stock Rd between Belgrove and St Arnaud, believed to be caused by one of the riders driving into the back of the other. His 50-year-old travelling companion has been discharged from Nelson Hospital.

Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne McCoy of the Nelson CIB said investigations into the crash were ongoing, but at this stage it did not appear speed was a factor.

The pair were part of a group from the Far North who travelled south for the TT2000 South Island, a motorcycle event that challenges participants to ride 2000 kilometres in 48 hours.

The rally began in Christchurch on Saturday, with participants travelling to Nelson via either coast, and returning on Sunday using the route they did not take on the way north.

Organiser Mike Hyde, of Christchurch, said he was shocked by the death, and he could not believe the hospitalised rider survived.

"For him to be relatively unscathed is a miracle."

Mr Hyde was adamant the event was not a race, and said there were no prizes for "winning" the event.

Riding 2000km over two days was not an overly onerous challenge for a motorcyclist, and could be comfortably accomplished without breaking speed limits, he said.

"We're sort of pulling together like-minded riders who just want to basically go for a glorified road ride.

"I think the moment you start organising an event where you've got a chequered flag at the finish and trophies and prizes that's when you do incur a bit of liability when something happens, that's definitely not what this is." It was the second year the event had been held, but Mr Hyde doubted there would be a third.

"It's great while it all goes fine, but someone's now died for the very reason that he chose to sort of participate in a ride that you've organised.

"It's pretty bad on the morale."

The fatal crash was one of two incidents involving motorcycles in the area on Sunday afternoon. St John had been required to attend a number of motorbike crashes south of Nelson, team manager Jon Leach said.

However, Tasman police district highway patrol team leader Senior Sergeant Eric Davy said there was no indication the area was worse than anywhere else.

"The whole of the South has been bad in that we've had so many motorcycle crashes. We've had them crash everywhere."

Mr Davy said extra resources had been put into policing State Highway 6 due to a spate of fatal crashes involving all vehicle types.

- © Fairfax NZ News