A Bit About The Geraldine Bike Challenge

The Geraldine Lions Club association with Mountain Biking came in 2005, when Allan Kelly suggested we start up a Sunday riding group. Usually about ten riders meet ( we still do) and enjoy a couple of hours riding round one of the many different tracks available in this area. Over the years we have enjoyed a lot of trips away riding including the Otago Rail Trail and Molesworth to name just two.

In 2007, Allan mentioned to the Club there was a lot of land running alongside the Orari River, some of which had tracks used by the river control authorities providing access to their flood protection works. It was decided to approach Ecan (Environment Canterbury) seeking their permission to establish Mountain Bike tracks. They agreed, with a few limitations on what we could or couldn't do and in the ensuing years we have established over thirty kilometres of tracks. Having adopted a policy of seeking Ecan's approval before doing any work out there we have had great co-operation and assistance from them.
 
The Geraldine Lions Club has invested a great deal of time and expense in developing the tracks and in 2008 a decision was made to run an event with the dual aims of getting people out on bikes and also generating a few dollars for further development and maintenance of our tracks.

We are very pleased with the outcome of the three events so far, we not only got a lot of people out on their bikes, but also made some dollars for the upkeep and development of the tracks. A further bonus of running the chalenges has been the great support from the riding public as well as generous sponsors which has enabled us to donate a considerable amount of money to various causes. Of course neither of the last two events would have been possible without the generous support from our sponsors. We thank them sincerely and urge you to read the sponsors page and support them whenever possible.