On the world’s trail
The Enduro World Series is a big deal. A global competition that brings together the best enduro mountainbikers in the world literally puts regions on the mountainbiking map. Now Nelson is vying for its chance to share some of the limelight. Stu Hunt look
The Enduro World Series (EWS) is a race format that brings together the best enduro mountainbikers in the world. It’s also a global showcase of the best trails, destinations, riders and brands, and in just five years it has become one of the premier events on the mountainbiking calendar.
And it may be coming to Nelson.
The Nelson Mountain Bike Club entered its bid for the 2021 EWS at the end of May.
Club administrator Belinda Crisp says that if the bid is successful, the club will be sent a letter of intent. There will be a round in New Zealand, but Rotorua and Christchurch are also in the running.
Nelson won’t get official confirmation until early 2020, but Crisp says that as soon as the club gets some sort of indication, it’ll get started.
The challenge is to raise the necessary funding and get sponsorship on board, and the time needed to organise events around the racing, like a street party.
When the owner of the EWS franchise came to Nelson, it needed to be reassured that Nelson could be ready for the event.
‘‘The EWS wants to see the whole town involved. It’s a celebration of mountainbiking, and it’s not just a race for the elite riders – it’s a whole experience. By 2021, we will be ready,’’ says Crisp.
One of the conditions of hosting the EWS is staging a round of the Continental Series first, and the three-day Aorere Enduro has been confirmed for Nelson in October. Crisp says the club is concentrating making that event as big and bold as possible.
She says the carrot of holding one of the EWS rounds here is $600,000 to be invested by the Nelson City Council over three years. The council has already approved underwriting the event to the tune of $200,000.
‘‘People don’t see that. They think the club is just trying to concentrate on getting these big events because it’s just a racing club. But the reason really is about trying to develop the sport.’’
She sees the potential for it to be the marquee event for Nelson, with a big impact for the region.
A Berl economic study commissioned by the council puts the number of riders currently
coming to the region, both domestically and overseas, at 29,250, spending an estimated $17.1 million in the local economy.
The report estimates that hosting an event such as the EWS could bring in an additional 9000 domestic and international visitors, spending $3.4 million and generating $3.1 million in GDP, with 42 fulltime equivalent jobs.
Some of these figures are based on the example of Rotorua hosting Crankworx in 2016, but Crisp says the club has also learned a lot from Blue Derby in Tasmania.
Blue Derby is almost the textbook example of the impact of the Enduro World Series. In four years, it has been transformed from ghost town to mountainbike mecca.
The former mining town is in a river valley nestled amongst the temperate rainforests of northeast Tasmania. During the mining boom of the 1930s, its population was around 3000, but these days this has dwindled to about 130 permanent residents. Farming and forestry are the mainstays.
Eight years ago, the average house price in Blue Derby sat around $50,000. It was picturesque, but sleepy. One service station, two pubs and a cafe.
When the idea of a mountainbiking destination was floated for northern Tasmania, a regional body was formed, and it came up with a number of trails spread over a large area. Blue Derby Mayor Greg Howard says that because the proposed trails were all in remote locations, they weren’t going to provide any economic advantage to a particular town or area.
‘‘So we went back and said we’re going to build them in and around the township of Derby. One (reason) is because of the economic impact on the township, but also because there was some really fantastic countryside in which to build the trails – rainforest with large granite boulders.’’
Howard says it was a battle to get the trails built. The routes were on a mix of Parks and Wildlife land and state forest. In his words, there was plenty of paperwork and permits.
But 35km of trails were laid to begin with, and they opened in early 2015.
With a mix of state funding and local investment, the area ended up with 100km of trails. And then it really was a case of build it and they will come.
The town hosted the Australian championships in 2016 and 2017, which generated a strong buzz about the quality of the trails and location.
Howard says the town took a punt and wrote to the EWS organisers in order to put Blue Derby on the international mountainbiking map. The EWS scouts took up the invitation, and on the strength of their glowing endorsement the town put together a funding package, comprised of a local contribution, state government funding, and sponsorship deals involving the likes of Shimano and Forestry Tasmania.
It was successful. In April 2017, Blue Derby hosted the EWS, and even received ‘‘best in the world’’ status for one of its trails.
Howard says this gave the town the confidence to look for a return, and it hosted the event again this year, with the same funding package.
He says the cost of bringing the race to Blue Derby was about $200,000. The council put up $30,000 and invested in some of the logistical matters like street closures. Sponsorship provided $60,000, and the state government put in $120,000.
But the return on that investment has been significant.
Howard says the 2019 returns haven’t been done yet, but in 2017-18 there were 30,000 riders on the trails.
The council is receiving three to four development applications a month for new accommodation. There are now three cafes and a pizza parlour, and one of the pubs ‘‘is going gangbusters’’. The average house price is now around $300,000.
Howard says there has been a significant flow-on effect for the whole district.
‘‘On average, people are staying around four nights. The growth has been 50 per cent compounding per year. Any tourist area that gets 10 per cent is pretty happy.’’
Nelson Regional Development Agency chief executive Mark Rawson says that for Nelson and Tasman, one of the critical approaches is the theory of inspiring others to share the story – making sure that people have an outstanding time while they are here, and doing our best to make sure they have every chance to share that.
‘‘Having an event like this will give us a real opportunity to pick up and utilise all of those key influences in the mountainbiking world as advocates for the experience and for the region.’’
Prior to coming to Nelson, Rawson was CEO at Destination Rotorua. He says one of the things learned from Crankworx in Rotorua was that there is a whole media contingent around it. ‘‘For the region to be able to have some of that exposure through the Enduro World Series, you couldn’t buy that.’’
He says the event it will also be a huge opportunity to substantiate the mountainbiking offering in the region.
‘‘There’s a point of difference. If you went to every regional tourism website in New Zealand or every
major visitor destination, I bet there’s a mountainbiking element of some kind. But this is our showcase – everyone wants to aspire to what their heroes are doing.’’
Rawson says one of the key roles for the NRDA will be to activate the city and the community so that everyone knows the EWS is on.
‘‘What we learned from the All Blacks experience is how to utilise our marketing assets to support the event, and how to pull a team together to activate our city when we need to for serious events that put us on the world stage.
‘‘Enduro has world-class athletes, and there’s a large pool of people around them, and visitors, and we want to make sure they have a great time and it’s a celebration of cycling.’’
Rawson says one of the things the region will want to accentuate as a point of difference is how close the mountainbiking is to the centre of town.
Because the Nelson Mountain Bike Club owns the event, it will leverage or raise the rest of the funding beyond the council’s contribution, but Rawson says the NRDA will be as supportive as it can.
‘‘The club deserve all the accolades. Cyclists are a passionate bunch of people who get stuff done.’’
Rawson says mountainbiking has proven to be high-value as a visitor market, and well positioned for the shoulder season or shoulder and off-season between March and November.
‘‘What it would do is assist to cement us on the New Zealand events calendar and prove we can do it, then get through the first round of bidding phase for other major sporting events. While it might not always be the EWS, I can see it will help positioning the region for other opportunities in that space.
‘‘I can’t see too many downsides.’’
‘‘The EWS wants to see the whole town involved. It’s a celebration of mountainbiking, and it’s not just a race for the elite riders – it’s a whole experience. By 2021, we will be ready.’’
Belinda Crisp