Lake Mangamahoe 5k

The Lake Mangamahoe 4.5km closes out the opening Saturday of the Coastal Five festival with a late-afternoon cross country run near the lake of the same name, a short drive from New Plymouth with Mt Taranaki as a backdrop. Unlike the festival's road-based legs, this stage leaves the tarmac for off-road trails through rolling forest and farmland, with the mix of grass, gravel and bush track underfoot making footing and pacing more variable than the surrounding stages. The course undulates throughout, climbing and descending through pockets of native bush and open paddock as it loops around the lake environs before returning to the start-finish area. Run as dusk approaches, it offers some of the most scenic surroundings of the weekend, with the bush-clad hills reflected on the lake's still water as the fourth leg of the combined marathon format.