History 

In 1988 the first MTB race in the Arapuke Forest Park (known variously at the time as Kahuterawa/K-Loop or Woodpecker Forest) was organised by Andrew Ninness. 

The following year The Kahuterawa Mountain Bike Race was the first round of New Zealand's first ever National Championship Series, and was the first ever Mountain Bike Race for the Arapuke Classic race director Tom Bamford (for the record he still has the t-shirt to prove it). In those days the race started at Brown's house and competitors rode up Back Track and then beyond for various loops on farmland along Scotts Road.

The race was held most years with a brief hiatus during the 1990s when access to the single tracks at K Loop was restricted. The Palmerston North City Council procured the forest through a land exchange, access was opened up, and MTB racing was back on the agenda from 2006 with several National Championship rounds incorporated with the annual Kahuterawa Challenge. The course used Back Track to climb up to the top of the park and then riders raced on various single tracks in the forest with the final descent down the eponymous Kissing Rock and Zig Zag Road. Racers completed several laps of the course depending on the grade.

Colin Knight took over organising the Kahuterawa Challenge with Crank It Cycles coming on board as the event sponsor in the mid-2000’s.  Brent Boddy Prestige started a long association with the race in 2014, first joining as a co-sponsor and then taking over the title sponsorship first through their brand Jeep for 2016 and, in 2017, with Brent Boddy Prestige and Crank It Cycles as co-sponsors.  Brent Boddy Prestige took over the the title sponsor from 2018.

When forest logging limited access to the lower forest, the start/finish moved to the Scotts Road carpark for a couple of years in 2015 and 2016 before moving back to the Kahuterawa car park in 2017.  As the trail network expanded rapidly from 2014, the course changed each year to make use of as many trails as possible.  

In 2019 the event name changed again to the Arapuke Classic to reflect the name of the park under PNCC ownership. The event continues to be run with this name.