The Queenstown Mountain Bike Club is gearing up for an influx of off-road racers in July, as the resort hosts the first New Zealand cyclocross championships in the South Island.
Cyclocross is a winter sport, popular in the United States and Europe, where competitors race bikes described by club events co-ordinator Carey Vivian as "essentially road bikes with knobby tyres on them", on mixed-terrain courses.
"The bikes go very fast off-road, so they are very sketchy to ride.
There's a lot of slipping and sliding around and also there will be a lot of crashes and a lot of very cold people," Mr Vivian said.
The championships have been held in Hamilton since their inception in 2009, and when the club approached race organisers, they were " more than happy" for it to come down to the South Island.
"It's a winter sport overseas, often raced in snow and sleet, and they don't have these conditions in the North Island, so it will be a bit of an experience for all of us really."
The race will be held on July 2 as an official part of the Queenstown Winter Festival.
Thousands of people attend cyclocross events overseas, which he says make for "spectacular viewing" with a lot of crashes, high-speeds and high-intensity racing, due to the short race lengths.
Mr Vivian said the club had gained initial approval from the Queenstown Lakes District Council strategy committee two weeks ago to build the course, which spans Jardine Park and two adjacent paddocks in Kelvin Heights.
It is waiting on written conformation from the council before it can start work on the course, which will be between 2.5km and 3.5km long.
"There will be lots of different terrain, from steep uphill terrain where people have to get off and run up with their bikes, off-camber areas and part of cyclocross races is having man-made barriers where people have to jump off their bikes to get across, and do it at speed."
He says there will also be icy patches, possibly snow and cold weather to deal with, as well.
One of the big names entered in the competition is 2010 world single-speed mountain biking champion, Garth Weinberg from Rotorua, but Mr Vivian hoped local riders would give him a run for his money.
In line with international cyclocross rules, despite the cold, racers have to wear lycra - something which Mr Vivian said had drawn a few complaints from locals.
"We have made an exemption for a local rider for wearing lycra by allowing him to wear a dress instead - to compete as a cross-dressing cyclocrosser."
