Hawkes Bay Mtb Club

The Panpac Eskdale Mtb Park located in Esk Valley suffered massive damage during Cyclone Gabrielle. It's going to be a huge effort for the The Hawkes Bay Mtb Club to restore the park so the community can ride there again. 75 km of established trails were impacted with land slips and/or trees littering the tracks. Plus the club's storage container for tools and equipment has been lost, presumably washed out to sea.

The club started a Givealittle page to help raise funds for the rebuild, and the Slush Fund added $1000 to the campaign. Keep an eye on the club's website and Facebook page for updates.

The Hawkes Bay Mtb Club is one of New Zealand’s largest cycling clubs with annual membership of approximately 2200.

The club’s ‘home’ is the internationally famous Panpac Eskdale Mtb Park, with approximately 75 km of trails spread over approx 530 ha of private forestry, located just 10 minutes drive north of Napier. The club have worked hard over the years to develop the trail network in the forest.

The Ground Effect Slush Fund first donated cash to the Hawkes Bay Mtb Club way back in 2004, and has been called upon a few times over the years to help out. Projects supported include: $1000 for a new map board at the Pukeora Hill car park in 2004; $1600 towards digger hire for completion of the Cannonball Lector trail in 2009, plus an update to the map board; funding of the timber for three bridges and a gate for easy rider access from the carpark in 2012; and $545 to purchase a hedge trimmer 2015. Below is a pic from better times. The club have passionate volunteers ready and waiting to roll up their sleeves and start the rebuild.