Little Easy’s added extra
This week’s LittleEasyCHB ride onEaster Friday will feature an added extra.
CHBTourism coordinator and event organiser Trudy Hales said, similar to last year, about 200 people were expected to take part in Friday’s ride, which is billed as awarmup to the larger BigEasy event the next day further north, which has riders travel from HavelockNorth to Church Road Winery in Napier.
Starting at 11.30am from Russell Park in Waipukurau, The Little EasyCHBride is a gentle 12km loop along theCHB Rotary River Pathways.
Heading off along the northern side of the TukitukiBridge and follow the limestone trials— encountering buskers and entertainers along the way — riders then turn around at TapairuRd inWaipawa and head back to the finish at Russell Park where there will be refreshments, facepainting, a bouncy castle and spot prizes, which this year includes a retro-style lime-green Malvern Star bike.
But in a change this year, Mrs Hales said at the conclusion of the ride at 1pm riderswould be able to go on guided tours of the variousmountain bike trails currently being developed in CHB.
“TheRotary Club and a few other passionate folk are cutting in these new tracks atGumTree Mountain Bike Park and at Lindsay Bush. The tracks aren’t finished yet, but to make it interesting we thought we’d show people the work that’s going on and just how cool these riding offerings are going to be,” she said.
Evenbigger changeswill be on the cards for next year’s event, Mrs Hales said, if the Rotary River Pathways Trust succeeded in its plan to build an 84m swing bridge across the Tukituki, linking Mt HerbertRd in Waipukurau and Tapairu Rd in Waipawa.
“That will be a great offering. Then, like the Big Easy in Hawke’s Bay, we’ll be able to do a full loop and that’swhere we can do some really cool stuff. I can imagine us doing things like wine tastings somewhere along the trail,” she said.
Mrs Hales, employed by Hawke’sBay Tourism which is contracted by the CHBDistrictCouncil to promote the district and attract visitors, delivers the Little Easy on behalf ofCHB Promotions.
The othermajor event she is responsible for under her employment arrangement is theCHB Spring Fling. Last year 5500 people attended a ticketed event during the Spring Fling, which consisted of a programme of 19 events over two months in September and October, compared to the 13 events staged in 2015.
After posting a $26,828 deficit in 2015, the councilfunded Central Hawke’s Bay Promotions posted a small surplus of $954 in the year ending June 2016.
It received a grant of $123,700 from Central Hawke’s Bay District Council in 2016, up from the $114,300 it received in 2015.
After going out to event managers earlier this year, Mrs Hales said she was close to releasing details of an expanded programme for the 2017 Spring Fling.
“We were raptwith how it went last year. Some of the favourites will be back. We’ve got some new events and some of the events that sold out last year, we’ll be offering more sessions of this year. So not only more events, but more exciting events.”
She was keeping details underwraps for now, but confirmed that theCHB Trolley Derby down Pukeora Scenic Rd would be an official Spring Fling event this year.
Little EasyCHBtickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children, by following the links at bigeasy.co.nz