Mountain biking lessons free for Porirua kids
The scholarship applications are flowing in from children keen to go mountain biking.
‘‘They usually put that they love bike riding and want to be able to jump,’’ Ash Peters, founder of notfor-profit mountain biking organisation, Word, said.
The programme is offering free spots for 20 kids across Porirua and Wainuiomata.
Some kids applying for the scholarships had added drawings of themselves jumping over cliffs, intent on the adrenaline rush of mountain biking.
‘‘We don’t quite do that,’’ Peters said.
Peters started the programme five years ago for people aged from 7 up to 17 and said it was not just about mountain biking.
‘‘There’s a social side with it too. Word isn’t just about riding a bike, it’s about making new friends and fostering a life-long love of mountain biking.
‘‘The kids are taking confidence from accomplishing something – like getting up a big hill – and they’re taking that feeling and transporting it into other avenues of their life.’’
Alongside that, Word bikers also help maintain the trails they ride on.
‘‘It’s giving back to the trails we love so much and the kids feel like they’re part of something.’’
She said kids often came back from their rides happily exhausted and ‘‘fizzing’’.
‘‘That’s the key word parents are saying to us.’’
Peters said they were well aware of the financial barrier into the programme – it costs $195 a term – and teamed up with Wellington-based electricity company Flick to fund free spots.
The scholarships were first offered in Term Four of last year.
Flick chief marketing officer Jessica Venning-Bryan said the scholarships were a concept they came up with in conjunction with Peters.
She said the company decided to start off by helping the kids who lived closest to the region’s best tracks – such as in Wainuiomata.
‘‘All these amazing trails are close to the city centre and are easy to access.’’
Despite that, many children didn’t make it to the trails, she said.
She suspected they either didn’t know about them or their parents were working and didn’t have time to take them.
Venning-Bryan called the programme unique, and said there weren’t many around the country like it.
‘‘The kids are taking confidence from accomplishing something – like getting up a big hill.’’
Applications for the scholarships are open until February 2 and are available on Word’s website.