TE AWAMUTU father Dan Beeson, who brought his sons Riley (centre) and Lucas (right), said the Mighty Mōkau Trailbike ride had been, a beautiful day out. “I would recommend it to anyone, especially families,” Dan said. PHOTO SUPPLIED
MANY hands made light work of the Mighty Mōkau Trailbike Ride, which brought about 750 participants to Awakino’s Piripiri Station on Sunday.
One of the organisers, Wendy Smyth, who owns Piripiri Station with husband Mark, said just as in its 19 previous years, the willingness of dozens of Mōkau people to pitch-in made the event a roaring success.
On Friday, about 17 volunteers began marking out the track with additional helpers coming and going throughout the weekend. They tackled everything from registering riders and flipping burgers, to retrieving crashed motorbikes.
On Sunday, the trail ride had a team of 15 riders continually sweeping the track to help anyone who had fallen off, or whose bike had broken down.
The course, which extended for about 70km across Piripiri Station and several neighbouring properties, had many river crossings where some bikes were inadvertently submerged by their riders.
It was open to two wheelers which ranged from state-of-the-art enduro mounts through to tired looking farm hacks. Meanwhile, quads and side-by-side machines were also a big part of the action.
Whatever the machine, a nearby cell phone tower enabled excellent communications from one end of the track to the other.
Any bikes which broke down or came to grief in a water crossing were quickly located and retrieved.
Riders were picked up and driven back to base and their machines either repaired at the scene or towed home behind one of two powerful 1000cc side-by-side patrol vehicles.
However, Wendy pointed out that, for obvious safety reasons, everyone on the track drove in the same direction, with no exceptions.
Even if a safety crew picked somebody up just two kilometres from the start-line, they then travelled the full length of the circuit to get them home.
“You don’t have people turning around and driving the wrong way in events of this kind; that could be disastrous,” Wendy said.
“Our event has had an excellent safety record over the years and this year was no exception.
“Only one rider received moderate injuries when he came off his machine. He was taken away by ambulance to receive treatment elsewhere.”
At the conclusion of the event on Sunday afternoon, State Highway 3 had a steady stream of vehicles towing bike-laden trailers both north and south.
Many of the crews stopped at Awakino Hotel where participants reviewed the ups and downs of the day.
Even with a few complaints about the dust, which grew worse as the day wore on, the consensus was that the event was well run and highly enjoyable.
Some riders wanted more tracks through pine forests. This year’s event did not include a section through a pine plantation, which had been used in previous years, as the owners were afraid a spark would start a fire.
However, while the riders toasted their success, event helpers still had hours of work ahead of them dismantling track elements, signs and bunting.
Everything had to be de-stapled, cleaned and carefully packed into bags for next year.
Wendy said the willingness of locals, some of whom were past Mōkau School pupils and teachers, to get involved was truly amazing.
While money raised has yet to be calculated, just as in past years, a third of the proceeds will be donated to Mōkau School.
The rest would go to other charitable causes of the area.
“We’ll announce the final figures as soon as we’re in a position to do so,” Wendy said.
