Mountain Biking
&
hills
own s
D
hrill
T
May your tyres stay full,
your brakes never fail
and may mud meet you
around every corner
T
During term 1, we ran three beginner rides which encouraged first
time mountain bikers, especially
Year 7 and 8, to join in. These
were based on the lower trails of
the Wainuiomata Trail Park.
During term 1, Jesse Cseh (Year
11) competed in the College
Sport Wellington Mountain Biking
Championships. Congratulations
to Jesse who finished 1st in his
age group and was crowned College Sport Wellington Champion
for 2013.
This year we also planned a trip to
Whakarewarewa Forest Mountain
Bike Park, in Rotorua. This is one
of the best bike parks in Australasia. To get to Rotorua we needed
to fundraise throughout the year.
We arranged a 4 hour sponsored
ride. The boys rode a lap of 3.5km
which had a climb of 150 meters
in each lap. They were sponsored
per lap they completed in the
4 hour period. This raised over
$2700. We also held a quiz night
at the Shandon Golf club which
raised over $1000.
St Bernard’s College 2013
We went to Rotorua on the last
Thursday of term 3. There were
16 boys and 8 parents who attended the trip. We all stayed at
an old wooden lodge, Awa Homestead, on the outskirts of Rotorua.
On the Friday we hired a shuttle
at the bike park which carried us
from the bottom of the park to
the top. This meant that over 8
hours we were able to ride close
to 30km. DOWNHILL! Some great
thrills and a few spills were had.
On day 2, it was a more of a cross
country focus. We explored many
of the trails in the park. After a
whole day of going downhill, day
2 was a lot more taxing for the
boys, especially for the dads. We
rode many different trails in the
morning and stopped for a welldeserved break in the middle of
the day to watch the North Island
Downhill Championships, on the
National Downhill course.
This was an amazing experience
for everyone to see first-hand
what is possible on a mountain
bike. The boys will never forget
some of the crashes they witnessed.
After the break we continued
to explore the Whakarewarewa
forest for the afternoon. A wellearned soak in Rotorua’s famous
hot pools was enjoyed in the
evening.
“New guys
can give
MTB a try
on a new
club bike
”
On day 3, a small group returned
to the bike park for a quick couple
of hours before heading back to
Wellington. A massive thanks to
all the parents who came on the
trip Peter Wilcock,
Phill Marra, Brett Roberts, Brent
Palmer, Craig Norris, Jo Roberts,
Carolla Hofsteede and Chris
Duthie-Jung. The trip was an
amazing success and something
no one on the trip will ever forget.
Our club now has a mountain
bike that is available for anyone
to use who does not own a bike
or would like to give mountain
biking a try. This is available to
any student. See Mr Sutherland
if you are interested. This bike
was kindly donated by Kevin and
Cecily Chamberlain, from the Ss
Peter and Paul parish. The SBC
MTB Club thanks them for their
generous donation.
I look forward to another great
year of mountain biking in 2014.
May your tyres stay full , your
brakes never fail and may m V@