Christchurch residents will finally get to see world-class mountain bike racing on the Port Hills in February when the Crankworx Summer Series starts.
The series had to be cancelled in March after Christchurch Adventure Park was damaged in the Port Hills fire last February.
The four-day festival, which is part of the Crankworx World Tour, starts on February 13. It will bring together the world's best mountain bikers to compete in elite-level competitions across a range of disciplines.
Christchurch Adventure Park general manager Anne Newman said hundreds of thousands of dollars has been put into getting the park ready.
"It's so exciting to talk about something positive and not talk about fires, Covid, floods - any of this sort of stuff.
"(We're) really excited to be able to do this for the Adventure Park and for Christchurch."
A New Zealand-first Gold Cup slopestyle course is being built as part of the event and will become a permanent fixture at the park.
The special course features jumps and plenty of room for spectators to get up close to the action as the riders fly through the air.
"It hosts a downhill, a pump track competition and slopestyle competition, and it's going to see international riders from around the world come here to Christchurch."
Organisers are expecting thousands of spectators over the four-day event.
But Newman admits they are still wary of the upcoming fire season and park officials are regularly meeting with the Fire and Emergency NZ.
"We've got a number of towers that are around the park that have got early fire detection sensors and cameras in place.
"And we've got our farm safety management plan, which is signed off by council and by the fire service as well, to make sure that we're ready should anything happen."
The Christchurch event will launch the 2025 Crankworx World Tour before the Summer Series moves on to Rotorua, Australia and Canada.
- By Geoff Sloan, made with the support of NZ On Air
