Friday, 5 February 2010

The White Horse

White Horse at 1975 TDF
Seen here at the 1975 Tour de France, the White Horse is the fabled mascot of the GP.

What was once a childhood competition to pass the time while bored in the back seat of their parents car (Slim & Davis), was adapted to the bicycle, where if one spots a White Horse while out riding, they automatically gain a 30 second time bonus. In a group situation, the first person to call 'White Horse' takes the time bonus. False calls incur a time penalty of 30 seconds.

The White Horse competition is one of many such competitions on the road during GP rides. In addition, there's the Sprints competition which features the Makara town sprint, Tomlinson sprint, Backhouse Interiors sprint, KKK sprint, Seatoun sprint and various zebra crossings (ranked in order of importance, respectively). The KOM competition (featuring various cols around the Wellington region) and Glenno has his own competition drafting trucks and other random vehicles.

The real White Horse resides in Crema and made an appearance at the dinner table during the GP trip to Europe last year. The White Horse was under the watchful eye of the Director during the course of the entire evening, and an attempted mission to bring the horse back to New Zealand failed, even though generous bribes were offered to the Directors assistant.

White Horse

White Horse 2
Nevertheless, a White Horse trophy was commissioned by the Director as the premier prize for last years awards ceremony at Scopa. Competition for the coming year is expected to be hot...

White horse

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