GREETINGS TO ALL KAIKŌURA CYCLING CLUB MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS
NEXT CLUB MEETING
24th August 2023
to be held at the Upper Room at 5:30pmAGENDA
Correspondence
Finances
Social Media
Volunteer / Maintenance
Policies
Events
General Business
1. Membership numbers and how to increase financial membership
2. Incorporated Societies rule changes affecting office bearers and legal liability.
3. Whale Trail
4. any other items
All welcome
LADIES BIKE RIDES GROUP
The Ladies’ Bike Rides Group meets every Saturday weather-permitting at 10am opposite the Ludstone Rd Bowling Club. Come along for friendship, fitness, fun and coffee. E-bikes and muscle bikes, all levels of ability. For more information contact club member Chris Boyd on 0272210869.
Recent away trips have included the West Coast Wilderness Trail and the Alps to Ocean. Come along and be involved.
TRAILS UPDATE
All trails are in excellent condition and are riding well. The Kaiterau today was dry as a bone up to km five then a few small mud puddles. The Korimako-Bellbird Trail gets better and better. The Kowhai Trail River Cruise is reopened. Take this option for a riverbed experience if you don’t feel like climbing “Mt Kowhai”. The Hapuku Trail is also riding well. We’re spoilt for choice. Huge thanks to the Trail Team for their diligent hard work keeping our trails in great condition.
JULY KCC MEETING NOTES
- Of concern is the low numbers of current financial members with 124 on the books abut only 10 were financial in 2023 as at the last meeting. This is to be discussed at the next meeting.
- The Trail Team have fixed a muddy bog behind Koura Bay Lodge which formed after the recent heavy rain. Many thanks to Nigel Ross for the use of his digger for this work.
- Boulders have been removed from under Middle Creek bridge making it easier to navigate a course under the railway bridge.
- 0.5km markers have been installed on the Kaiterau Trail up and down. They stand out well being “Adrenalin Orange” and help with knowing where you are on that trail – an important bit of safety information in case of accidents and injury on the trail.
- The latest signage project was Kaikōura Trail section markers. These are gradually appearing around the Kaikōura Trail. These signs have GPS co-ordinates on the signs and complement the existing way-finding signage.
- Vandalism of trail safety signage continues to be a problem, particularly along the Hapuku Trail. One individual seems to be breaking and removing the “no horses” signs and has been witnessed doing so. The conditions of our agreement with ECAN to have a cycle trail along the Hapuku River was that motorbikes and horses are specifically excluded from the trails as they pose a health and safety risk to riders. This behaviour is costing the club a lot of money replacing signs. No rider wants to come around a corner and have a horse rear up in alarm.
- The newly formed sub-committee for Events have some great ideas and are working on developing these events – more information to come.
WHALE TRAIL PRESENTATION
At the July meeting we were very fortunate to have Nigel Muir – Project Manager of the Picton to Kaikōura Whale Trail, come and speak. Nigel’s presentation was very interesting and informative and well received by all who attended.
Nigel provided an in-depth presentation on the Picton to Kaikōura Whale Trail. The presentation provided a fascinating insight into the extremely involved and delicate process required to establish a new cycle trail. The Whale Trail project is being progressed with the utmost respect and consideration for the environment, all local Iwi and affected parties.
Nigel’s vision for the Whale Trail is of a holistic cycling trail show-casing cultural and historical stories, amazing scenery, improving ecosystems, restoring and beautifying forgotten areas, and planting 100,000 native plants. The opportunities for economic growth for businesses along the Trail are an added bonus to the Marlborough and Kaikōura regions. He illustrated this with statistics for all of New Zealand’s cycle trails showing a very high return on investment.
KCC’s vision of a making Kaikōura a “Trail Town” with a Cycling Hub in the West End grassed area adjacent to the public toilets aligns with the preferred location of the Whale Trail start / finish. This means both KCC and MKTT can advocate for this with the Kaikōura Council to our mutual benefit.
Nigel applauded and thanked the Kaikōura Cycling Club for their work in building and maintaining the Kaikōura Trails and looks forward to tapping into the club’s depth of local knowledge and working together to achieve the Kaikōura to Hapuku Trail section. He asked the club to continue discussions by including the Whale Trail as an agenda item in our future meetings.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subs are now due for all members who have not yet paid in 2023. Follow these steps to renew your subscription:
1. Go to https://kaikouracycling.co.nz/be-involved/#membership
2. Click on “membership form”
3. Fill in all details on the membership form
4. Fees currently are Family (2 Adults, up to 3 children under 15) +$ 60.00, Individual +$ 35.00, Youth (under 15) +$ 10.00
5. Choose your payment method – direct bank deposit or paypal
6. Make the payment.
SECRETARY Please contact me at kkcycleclub@yahoo.co.nz or sally@starc.co.nz with any news snippets, suggestions, feedback or for further information. Sally Turnbull
