• Ally Davey has been driving a collaboration between all Mountain Bike clubs, and trail groups around the Coromandel region and, and the Thames Coromandel District Council. The Collective has created a collaborative strategy with shared goals & vision. Our collective voice is so much stronger than each individual club is, and we are also realising that our goals are shared. Ultimately the biggest goal is to connect communities by trails across the Coromandel, whilst maintaining individual community trail experiences. The collective works together to support all types of riders, create
All clubs have been working individually for many years, but some with more success than others to overcome obstacles like access, funding, trail construction knowledge etc. The Coromandel Trails Collective was formed to enable community based groups to create, facilitate and maintain high quality community regional track and tracil recreational assets to meet the needs of our communities, locals, visitors and environment. Supporting smaller clubs gain knowledge of how to navigate common issues, and to provide assistance with funding, land access, and getting more people into trails in their local community. Toolkits developed helped enable access funding and reduce the pressure on volunteer organisations.
The collective has written a Hauraki-Coromandel Biking Strategy. All clubs had input into the strategy and has allowed a really good think around what we want and what steps we need to get there. The strategy document took many hours to collaborate and present, and has now been published and community consultation has taken place, with 564 respondents and 89% support of the strategy. The strategy is now being adopted by the Local Council and will enable implementation of the actions, the basis for a more active region by bike.
• Ride Coromandel, Thames Coromandel District Council , Thames MTB Club, Whangamata Mountain Bike Club, Tairua Pauanui River Trail, Pinnacle Riders Cycle Club, DOC, Hauraki Handlebars, Private landowners, Whitianga Mountain Bike Park, Whitianga Trail Blazers, and Mercury Bay Bike Club.
Sharing of information was really great for the clubs, to understand what other clubs were doing well and what was working. It enabled more successful methods being shared with others for replication and repetition. Sharing of information with Iwis and local Councils was really good as it created collaboration and enabled us to share the club visions and also to listen to their visions. Often we both wanted the same goals of safe, active recreation spaces for fit and healthy local residents.
We are seeing a lot of sharing of information and support of other clubs in the area. People are very open and willing to help others in need which is really awesome. Often there is benefit in other clubs having good trails, as people often drive to ride other trails in neighbouring areas. So there is no competition to be the best - but a shared design to create the best network of trails that we can for the benefit of all people. There is also a real energy when we organise get-togethers, and people take a lot of positive energy and experience from socialising with others into the same interests. A connected network of quality trail experiences, network of better trail experiences and access to quality facilities for local youth and communities.
