Mountain bikers to hit trails in McGazzaFest

Mountain bikers will take to the trails in Queenstown this weekend to pay tribute to their late comrade Kelly McGarry.

The third annual McGazzaFest will take place in the resort from today till Sunday.

Mr McGarry, known within the biking community as McGazza, died suddenly in 2016, aged 33, while riding a Fernhill trail.

Kelly McGarry Foundation chairman Fraser Gordon said the festival would be going back to its roots this year, with organisers trying to make sure it did not "get too big, too commercial".

"We want to keep it to its roots this year, which is honouring Kelly," he said.

He said the programme for this year's event was pretty much the same as last year's.

"We want to keep that chilled-out vibe. We've sort of pulled it back."

Despite that, this year's event was shaping up to have its biggest turnout of mountain bikers yet, Mr Gordon said.

Hundreds of spectators have turned out to past events, which have featured top mountain bikers such as Tyler McCaul, Carson Storch and Ryan Howard.

McGazzaFest 2019 will begin tonight with the Mega-train at Skyline Bike Park from 6pm.

It will wrap up on Sunday with the Gorge Road Jump Jam, at 3pm.