Mountain race planned for new West Coast Great Walk

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Plans are under way for a new running and mountain bike race on New Zealand's newest Great Walk.

The Paparoa Track, which is due to open in 2019, is New Zealand's first new Great Walk in 25 years. The last government announced the track as a memorial to the 29 men who died in the 2010 Pike River Mine tragedy.

A group of West Coast adventure sportspeople are now planning to use it for a mountain race event.

Spokesman Steve Bushby said track construction was going well and the Department of Conservation (DOC) had told him it would be completed in under a year.

The Pororari River near Punakaiki runs along part of the Paparoa Track Great Walk.

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The Paparoa Track mountain race co-organiser Steve Bushby.

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The Paparoa Track covers 65 kilometres between Blackball and Punakaiki and includes a 9km trail to the Pike River mine site, named the Pike 29 Memorial Track.

About $10 million had been earmarked for the cost of the track, and $921,000 was announced in last week's Budget for a memorial, interpretation centre and museum at the mine site.

Bushby said the track would take trampers and mountain bikers over the towering tops of Mt Hawera and Mt Ryall, multiple streams and mountain creeks, dense wild forest and massive limestone cliffs.

It would be the first Great Walk to allow mountain biking year-round, he said.

'Our proposal to put on a world-class race event that showcases the track … will get the profile of the track up there with the rest of New Zealand's Great Walks,' he said.

The event organisers consulted local groups including DOC, Ngāti Waewae, and representatives from the Pike River Familiess. They will seek a concession from DOC to run the event.

Bushby, who grew up in Kaiata near Greymouth, said adventure sports could help the West Coast economy's post-mining transition.

A successful trail run and mountain race in Leadville, Colorado, inspired the idea for the local event. The US town suffered mass unemployment from mine closures in the early 1980s.

'We went out to Leadville and met with the Leadville race organisers and asked them for their secrets so that we could replicate the success here, but in our own West Coast way.'

Bushby said they hoped to tie the event in with other West Coast races, run training camps for runners and riders, and work with tourism providers to keep visitors in the region for longer.

'We know visitors will come to experience the untamed natural beauty of the place, but they'll stay and return because of the hospitality and authentic experience.'

DOC Paparoa Track project director Tom Hopkins said he expected several groups would be keen to hold events on the track, but only a limited number would be granted concessions to protect the 'sensitive nature of the environment and the potential impact on other users'. .

The main track was due to open in Easter 2019, but public access to the Pike29 Memorial Track would not be available until the Pike River Recovery Agency had left the site, which was expected to happen in June 2019 at the earliest.

'Our three teams of track builders have been doing the hard yards. So far we [have] completed just over 18km of track of the 55km total we need to build. Our huts are weathertight but require interior fit-out, and three of the four major suspension bridges are complete,' Hopkins said.