Nominate a Local Trail Builder
Specialized NZ have launched a new campaign for local trail builders to be in with a chance to win a Levo. One person in our community that has been brought up a number of times is Hamish Seaton. “He’s someone who doesn’t like the limelight but does and has done so much for our trails”.
Specialized NZ have launched a new campaign for local trail builders to be in with a chance to win a Levo. One person in our community that has been brought up a number of times is Hamish Seaton. “He’s someone who doesn’t like the limelight but does and has done so much for our trails”. Help us nominate Hamish by entering a submission here.
Hamish has been building trails for over 30 years. He started building trails when he was at University in Christchurch. He then got involved with Mountain Bike Otago and has pretty much helped build or design most of the tracks in Dunedin (the list is actually too long to add). Not many people know this but he was a key part in designing and building a lot of commercial tracks in NZ including: Paparoa, Old Ghost Rd, Alps 2 Ocean etc. Yet, most of the work he does on our local trails is volunteer work.
We caught up with him to find out what’s in store for our local trails and, most importantly, what we can do to help.
> What’s the future for Dunedin trails?
“Dunedin is pretty well served for MTB trails these days, but we’re still lacking things like an intermediate jump line, skills parks and kids tracks.. Some of these are planned and will take a bit of time to fund and build. Rebuilding Whare Flat after logging is going to keep people busy for many years, and there is scope for more tracks at all of our riding areas. We don’t have many longer/easier trails close to town, but there are plans to build off-road cycleways to the north and south of Dunedin which will help to fill that gap.”
> What more can the community do to help support the trails?
“Join your MTB club to show your support (numbers really do count when we’re lobbying council and making funding applications) and make your voice heard wherever possible. Make submissions to council plans, write messages and letters of support to Facebook, newspapers, city councilors etc. Anti-bike or anti-track people tend to be very vocal, so if people don’t advocate for tracks and trails, the squeaky wheel will be the only one heard.”
We think Hamish is a bit of an unsung hero, so if you’d like to nominate him or anyone else in the community follow the link and get nominating!