The old website for New Plymouth Mountain Bikers club: see the new one for rides, races, trail development, skills development and advocacy in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand.
Quite possibly the first New Zealand event to celebrate IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association) Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day, the New Plymouth event was deemed a fantastic success, and set the bar high for future years.
Coinciding beautifully with the first sunny warm day after weeks (months) of rain, the event drew more than 30 kids and their parents to the underutilized Huatoki Domain park in one of the city’s outer suburbs. The event, organised by the non-profit New Plymouth Mountain Bikers club, offered free bike safety checks, skill and confidence building clinics, fun rides, and even a race around an undulating 1km cross-country course.
The youngest rider was only 4 years of age, but that didn’t deter him or any of the other participants from having a great day out on their mountain bikes, conquering such challenges as a limbo, slalom course and transporting a water bottle from one spot to another. These skills were then put into a real-world mountain biking situation on a fun ride, which introduced the young riders to natural terrain like hills, roots and mud. The day finished with a fun race, where everyone was a winner and took a prize home.
The event was made possible with the support of the New Plymouth District Council, who provided key sponsorship to help the club promote the event to a broad audience, IMBA, who created the event and supported it with a range of promotional material, and local bike shops and cycling organisations who got in behind the event with promotion and prizes in some cases. it also gained significant exposure through the local media channels. It looks set to become a regular fixture in the New Plymouth Mountain Bikers’ calendar.
