New mecca for mountain bikers
A Tokoroa mountain bike park is quickly stealing the limelight from Rotorua’s Redwood Forest.
Cougar Park, the South Waikato town’s 68 hectare mountain bike park, has become the place to go for Waikato mountain bikers.
The Tokoroa Mountain Bike Club, which operates the park within a pine plantation off Mossop and Newell Rd, is now set to seek $1 million in funding to further invest towards its transformation into a world class facility over five years.
The club has access to 300 hectares of Hancock Forest Management forest in which to expand into.
Club member Larry Sullivan said it’s already having an impact on Rotorua’s popular Whakarewarewa Mountain Bike Park in the Redwood Forest.
‘‘With the amount of visitors we are getting regularly and new people in the carpark, Cougar Park has become the place where they ride,’’ he said.
‘‘They are from Cambridge or Hamilton. They are not even going to the Redwoods because of the scope of the tracks that are in there now. We were around 1500 visitors a month and I am picking it has got to be double that now.’’
The South Waikato District Council invested $350,000 towards the development of the park.
‘‘In 2018 the guts of park was harvest so all our tracks were decimated and now we are back into the realm of putting new tracks in,’’ he said.
‘‘We are up to about 22km of new [professionally built] tracks and they are outstanding.
‘‘They are world class, national level tracks, catering for everyone from twoyear-old kids to grade five mountain bikers.
‘‘I believe it is the greatest attraction in the district. I am really really proud of what we have done.’’
He said the club would be seeking further funding from a variety of sources over the next 24 months.
‘‘This year will be an exciting time,’’ he said.
‘‘We are putting together a package to go out to funders.
‘‘We have a ballpark figure of around $1 million to get the whole area re-tracked and a few other things.’’
Sullivan said the benefits of developing the park further would be significant for the town.
‘‘We can see that once we get a few more kilometres in there we can also tap into the Aussies that come to Rotorua for a week of riding,’’ he said.
South Waikato Mayor Jenny Shattock, who lives near the northern side of the park, said it was a fantastic facility for Tokoroa.
‘‘I have to say the tracks are fantastic. I go out and do the easy ones and there are cars there every night,’’ she said.
‘‘We have certainly made our $350,000 back many many folds.’’