Firstly I'd like to welcome Malcolm Edridge and Gary Donaldson to our board of trustees. Along with Andrew Spittal these guys are making a massive contribution to expanding the region's trail network.
Our focus has been on sharing information around the new Trust - set up primarily to realise the Epic Trails project, and as importantly the wider potential of this project for the Top of the South.
Of the huge number of recipients of our first enews, only 12 people chose to unsubscribe. This does reflect mountainbiker’s always-healthy appetite for information, but if you are uncomfortable with receiving any more information from us we'd encourage you to simply unsubscribe, using the direct link at the bottom of this page.
The Trust has lofty aims, and it's important to note that this organisation represents a step up in delivering for MTB in the Top of the South. Many organisations including our local bodies talk about this goal a lot and do what they can to help achieve it, but the reality is that there currently aren't the resources (neither people nor investment) to really deliver on that massive potential.
You don’t have to look far to see how successful an organisation like this can be, with Taupo and Queenstown being great examples of a driven, Trust based approach.The MTB Trails Trust is set up to project manage what are in effect, major projects, which require investment and fund raising, and expertise with a driven focus among other attributes. This includes long term planning around managing maintenance requirements.
The Trust is a voluntary run organisation, and a Registered Charity (our registration number is on the "Become a Friend" page of our website), and is subject to all the checks and balances specified by the Department of Internal Affairs. That alone should give confidence that things are being done in a structured and responsible way right from the start. Some of the region's major contractors certainly think so, with Chings, Donaldson Civil and Edridge Contracting already on board and humming. Longtime MTB supporter Sharlands Engineering have offered structural engineering help as well, and all the region's local bodies and DOC are excited to be a part of this, as they can see the benefits of an organisation willing to take this on.
Councils and DOC have only steadily diminishing resources able to push this agenda, and they welcome a partnership of this type to deliver. Currently the Trust's activities fall largely in the voluntary space, as meaningful investment in trail development in the region is less than slight. And we’re certainly not going to see the likes of the hundreds of thousands of dollars put into upgrading the Dun Mountain Trail again any time soon.
The three contractors named above (through Andrew Spittall, Gary Donaldson and Malcolm Edridge) together with Tasman Trails (Chris Mildon) are right now putting significant in-kind contribution into the Richmond Hills trail work and the St Arnaud trail development project, adding to the trail specific volunteer work already being done in those areas. In fact last week we had four diggers and operators working on those two projects. Some of the projects the Trust will deliver simply can't be done solely on a volunteer basis as the scale of these is too large. So as the Trust generates investment through various means to deliver those projects, so too must it tender that type of work out using accepted contracting practice.
This is an exciting prospect, and we thank those who have already jumped on board as Friends of the Trust for their support. We look forward to doing some fantastic work for mountainbiking in the region, complementing the great work done especially by the region's MTB Clubs, and hope to see your smiles out on the trails!
Chris Mildon, MTB Trails Trust Chair
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