History

1992

  • Rotorua Mountain Bike Club informally began - created by Fred Christensen, Shane Collet, Mike Lee and Denley Tarpett

 

1993 – 1995

  • Rotorua Mountain Bike Club formally established  
  • 1993: First president Denley Tarpett appointed 
  • Sunday morning club rides from Longmile Rd started
  • Cross country races organised – from kids to elite class
  • Lakefront Volcanic Playground Fundraiser Events – Successful downhill & cross country events with a spot prize of a trip to Hawaii
  • National XC and DH events established
  • The first ever downhill race on a farm in Tumunui
  • Dead Dog Downhill was started on a farm in Wai-o-Tapu

 

1995 – 2003

  • 1995: Dave Donaldson appointed President 
  • NZMBA National Finals Organised 

 

2004 – 2005

  • 2004: Mike Lee appointed President
  • 42 Crossing annual trip – 70 riders
  • Annual Whirinaki Valley ride – negotiated with DOC for the use of the Whirinaki Track
  • Reputation of hosting high quality events solidified

 

2005 – 2007

  • 2005: Jeff Carter appointed president
  • Hundreds of thousands raised to fund the construction of more trails – doubling the number of trails in the forest. This included:
    • Lion Trail
    • Rollercoaster extension
    • Billy T
    • Frontal Lobotomy
    • Tuhoto Ariki
    • Chopsuey
    • Spring Roll
    • Sweet and Sour
    • Split Enz
    • Pondy New
    • Dragons Trail
    • Fools Gold
    • 24 Carat
    • Little Red Riding Huck 
    • Corners 
  • Mati Thomasevich ran the National Champs and XC events
  • Triple Crown Enduro Event with Stefan Bennett started
  • Downhill events established - the Spring Fling, the mid-winter Mudbuster and a round of the North Island DH series
  • Membership rose to 600

 

2008 – 2014

  • The Central North Island (CNI) Forests Iwi Collective Settlement was established - 176,000 hectares of Central North Island forest land was transferred from Crown to Iwi ownership including Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest where a majority of Rotorua’s mountain biking is based
  • Trail building temporarily halted as a result of the settlement
  • Pump track behind Pak’n’Save built
  • Land behind Scion leased to create a jump park - this became Dodzy’s Skills Park
  • The beginnings of a good working relationship with Forest Management Committee was established - allowing the construction of new trails
  • Launched the campaign of Recycle Your Cycle. We collected old bikes and through the generosity of free labour and materials managed to repurpose around 100 bikes given back to the community through nominations. 
  • Funding and rebuilding tracks was a major focus. A number of trails were rebuilt including: 
    • A new line in Creek Trail
    • Be Rude Not To
    • Gunna Gotta, 
    • parts of A Trail
    • The Wash
    • Split Enz
    • Dipper
    • Challenge network
    • Corridor
    • K2
    • Exit Trail
    • Bunny Jugs.
  • A trail development plan was created in consultation with the riding community and offered to the landowners for approval.
  • The following trails were funded and built by RMTBC 
    • Corners Extension
    • Verry Safe Trail
    • Tangaroamihi
    • Eagle vs Shark
    • Taura
    • Kung Fu Walrus
    • Split Enz extension
    • Hatupatu
    • Te Ruru
    • Road Side Challenge
    • Challenge Climb
    • Down the Guts
    • Te Huinga
    • Mokopuna Trail
    • Arepa Loop
    • Te Tihi o Tawa
    • Yellow Brick Extension
    • Te Rua
    • Tumeke
    • Rocky Horror
    • Dammit Janet
    • Riff Raff
    • Frankenfurter
    • Kataore
  • In 2011 the Club received $20,000 from Rotorua Lakes Council after advocacy work helping the council to understand the importance of mountain bike riding to the city
  • In 2012 the Club made a successful submission to Rotorua District Council’s Long Term Plan, receiving $20,000 per year for three years
  • 2013  was the first Mountain Bikers Ball with all proceeds going to the James Dodds Memorial Fund. This became an annual event
  • In 2013 the club completed  a review and upgrade of all of the trail network signage
  • In 2014 the RMTBC earned runner-up in the Rotorua Community Awards for Sports and Leisure
  • In 2014, Lisa Horlor drove a Give a Little Campaign, raising $15,040 for the Club to go towards the building of Eagle vs Shark

 

2015 – 2020

  • 2015: Mat Hunt appointed president
  • In 2015 the Rotorua Trails Trust was formed to manage the needs of trail building and maintenance
  • In 2015 the First Response Unit was formed
  • Low Key Super D events were run over the summer of 2015/2016
  • The 2017 Double Brown Triple Crown Enduro was run, sponsored by DB Breweries
  • 2017 – the Club took ownership of the Giant 2W Gravity Enduro Event
  • 2018 - Rider Development Programme launched
  • In January 2018, a round of the National XC series was held

 

2020 - 2021

  • 2020: Clair Coker appointed first woman president of Rotorua Mountain Bike Club 
  • ACC cut their $80,000 annual funding to the First Response Unit (FRU) in April 2021
  • Club membership soared to over 1600 when the call for help went out regarding the FRU
  • $40,000 of member donations received to fund FRU
  • $50,000 of funding received by GrassRoots Trust to fund FRU
  • 4 major sponsors came on board to fund the FRU
  • Descend merged with the RMTBC, now heading the DH division of the Club