There is still a lot of work to do before East Otago’s new mountain bike park is ready to ride, but volunteers are starting to see some of the fruits of their labour.
The yet-to-be-named mountain bike park is being developed in a forestry block in Palmerston’s Brough Rd, and is the vision of Craig Alter, who moved to the East Otago town about 18 months ago.
During last year’s lockdown, Mr Alter and his family started going out for walks along the rural roads near their house, one of which runs past the forestry block.
"I always walked past that place and kind of thought, ‘I wonder why no-one ever has ridden there?’," he said.
He discovered the land was owned by the Waitaki District Council, and used to be ridden before it became overgrown with gorse and broom.
A keen mountain biker, with a background in track cutting and maintenance, Mr Alter approached the council about his idea for a mountain bike park.
The council was happy for him to start developing the area and with the support of parks officer Jane Matchett and Mountain Biking North Otago, he got the ball rolling.
He launched the Facebook page "East Otago Mountainbiking" to update the community on his progress and started gathering volunteers to start clearing gorse and broom.
Mr Alter had experience in track cutting, having spent eight years in remote areas of Fiordland cutting tracks for pest control work, and is the track maintenance manager for Mountain Biking Otago.
However, design was something new to him, and he had sought advice from experts, including Ian Sutherland and Hamish Seaton.
There was potential to develop between 7km and 8km network of tracks on the land, but Mr Alter was starting with two — one cross-country track around the perimeter, which would be beginner-intermediate level, and another more technical track.
"So everybody can get a bit of a taste for it — whether you like doing massive jumps, or you’re a newbie or you’re 75-years old, and you’ve just bought yourself an e-bike."
He also wanted the park to be used by walkers and runners, and connect to existing walkways in the town.
He hoped it would attract more people to visit Palmerston and spend time and money in the area.
The project ticked several boxes for Mr Alter — "to give something back to the community, and also, have a mountain bike park on my doorstep."
His main motivation was creating new opportunities for the young people of East Otago. He hoped to involve school pupils in the track building process, and in planting the area in native trees.
Mr Alter, who is leading the project in a voluntary capacity, said the community had been very supportive, but he would welcome more volunteers and donations of time, resources and money.
He hoped to have at least a basic track open and rideable by the end of March or early April, but the timing would depend on excavator availability, and work to develop the tracks and create new ones would be ongoing.
