HOW THE PARK CAME TO BE
Back in late 2019 the Wakefield Community Council was approached by Nelson Forests Ltd (prior to purchase by OneFortyOne New Zealand) about a new mountain bike park in Wakefield that was on the horizon. Nelson Forests wanted the community involved, so the council held their regular meetings with the bike park as part of the agenda. There was a small group of individuals that attended, keen to hear about what Nelson Forests were proposing. The group had another meeting to discuss the proposal further and to formulate a plan. From there, the concept lost momentum slightly due to key staff changes and covid.
2021
In 2021 discussions with the MTB Trails Trust led to their agreeance to become the community’s umbrella organisation meant that we were back on track.
The MTB Trails Trust and several community members got together on a cold frosty morning to bike around the proposed block to check out the terrain and to gauge how much work we were in for. We were surprised with the lack of gorse amongst the unpruned pine trees. Unfortunately, we later found out that we weren’t quite so lucky.
From Left: Sam Buckingham, Leesa Buckingham, the late Alan Eskrick, Nathan Lines, Paul Stevens, Juliet Westbury, Liz Eskrick, Olivia West and Kate West.
Initially the name of the mountain bike area was proposed to be called the Wakefield Community MTB Park. This was changed due to its location in the Kainui North Forest and aptly renamed the Kainui Bike Park.
Fast forward to the 16th of October 2021 and we had our first working bee, with Sam our trusty MTB Trails Trust member, and parts of two families: the Lines (Nathan and Millan) and the Wests (Kate, Josh and Olivia). Unfortunately, the day didn’t quite go according to plan. We were hoping to find 10 way points on our proposed trail using GPS but we only managed to get to two or three after half a day fighting with the gorse. Whilst we left feeling slightly discouraged and defeated it didn’t stop the enthusiasm and for our next visit, we were better prepared, had the addition of Paul and suitably ‘armored’ up.
2022
One year on we celebrated our first anniversary. This also marked the completion of our first beginner trail, Buckwheater Bends and our uphill trail Up, Up and Away. Throughout the year we held numerous working bees with a small but dedicated crew who are now fitted out with hiviz trail crew tees thanks to a community grant by OneFortyOne. We have seen us learn and grow as a team and expand our tools to meet the demand of the terrain: from slasher, to loppers and saws, to electric chainsaws and diggers.
While our work is far from over, with still plenty more trails to build, we wanted to showcase all our hard mahi by opening up the park to the public, with our ‘Stage One Opening Day’ on the 3rd December 2022.
All of this would not be possible without our key partners: OneFortyOne New Zealand Ltd, who have gifted us use of their Kainui North forest and the MTB Trails Trust who without their support and guidance wouldn’t have made Kainui Bike Park become a reality.
A special mention to the late Alan Eskrick, who was a Trustee of the MTB Trails Trust. Alan was a dedicated, hard-working man who was passionate about mountain biking and an advocate for biking at the Top of the South. Alan was pivotal in the beginning of our Kainui journey and we could never thank him and his wife Liz enough for what they have done for Kainui and for our region.