This year a clash of dates will see the annual Pedal the Peel cycling event fall on the same day as the second Tamworth Trail Blazer, with athletes having to choose between the two.

Rather than postpone or reschedule, organisers of both events have embraced the weekend as a celebration of the “burgeoning interest in sports across the region”.

Last year the Pedal the Peel attracted over 300 cyclists and raised $30,000, with the event offering four distances this year from 15km through to 100km, with anyone over 12 invited to participate.

Event chair Terry Robinson is hoping that the clash of events won’t impact greatly on numbers.

“It’s never ideal to have more than one sporting event fall on the same day – but with school holidays and Easter so close it was hard to avoid,” he said.

“They are both great events so it should be a top weekend of sport and entertainment.” 

Meanwhile the Trail Blazer, which earned the reputation of “the place fun goes to die” in its inaugural year will see runners, over 18 only, take on three distances ranging from 15km to 45km on the gruelling tracks above the Oxley Lookout.

Organiser Warren Ansell conceived the event after hearing a Spanish ultra-athlete claim that “Australia was too flat.”

Mr Ansell then went about conceiving a course so fierce that an athlete on the three lap 45km loop climbs 2750 feet, 1000 feet higher than Mt Kosciusko. It also includes a straight 2.5km climb up a 21 per cent gradient hill – more than twice as steep as the road to the lookout. 

Both events will start early on Sunday April 7, and registrations can be found on respective websites.