Ūawa Tolaga Bay will have a new pump track in the town’s park to help rejuvenate the area and offer another asset for community to use.

The concept for a pump track in Ūawa started when Tairāwhiti Adventure Trust (TAT) were constructing the Alfred Cox skate park and pump track projects in 2022.

“It’s all very well for our community here in town having access to world class active recreation facilities, but what about our whānau up and down the coast?” said TAT chair Haimona Ngata.

With the weather events and cyclones of 2023, the rural communities need some aroha, he said.

“More often than not, our rural communities miss out on these kinds of facilities, and our local council are too bogged down with the civil infrastructure needs of the rural communities, so these types of projects become a ’nice to have’ asset.

“When they are cut off from town, people need things to do to keep themselves active and to keep youth and rangatahi stimulated and moving.”

The pump track would be another active recreation asset for the community.

A township upgrade plan is on the cards for Ūawa in the next few years and this, along with the completion of the TAT walking/cycleway and Streets for People projects, means the pump track fits into the wider rationale of what’s happening in Ūawa in the next two to five years.

The Milford Foundation gave TAT seed funding of $80,000 for the project, which allowed the organisation to apply to NZ Lotteries for the residual amount required for the $240,000 budget for the Ūawa pump track.

TAT heard about Milford Foundation through social media and saw their values aligned with their kaupapa.

“After the floods, the Milford Foundation mobilised and held an awesome fundraising event — Burgers, Beers and Brilliant sportspeople, and we were over the moon to be included as a recipient of funding from that event,” Haimona said.

“The skate park is in dire need of a redevelopment, as it’s reached the end of its life, so we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to assist with a revised skate park in the near future,” Haimona said.

Last year they held community consultation events in Ūawa where local youngsters were encouraged to write down what they might want to see in a pump track.

The design will be similar to the facility in Gisborne and will be constructed by Velo Solutions — world leaders in pump track construction.

It will have tight berms and corners and some jumps, and it will cater to users of all skill levels and ages.

TAT has worked closely with the Ūawa Skate Park roopu, as well as Te Aitanga a Hauiti mana kaitiaki.

“Everyone is pretty stoked to be able to have another awesome community asset for Ūawa.”

In March this year TAT are aiming to break ground. The build window will be around three to four weeks.

TAT are looking at bringing Rotorua local and current King of Crankworx, professional mountain bike and pump track rider Tuhoto Ariki-Pene to open the pump track and put on a show.

TAT wants to send a huge thanks to the Ūawa community for their patience on this project, and to the rest of the volunteer members

of TAT.

“It’s been a real slog to get this project off the ground due to Gisborne District Council systems and processes.”

Into the future, TAT has aspirations of putting active recreation assets into Ruatōrea and Māhia.

They have been working for a year with a community organisation in Māhia.

Stage one has recently been completed — a brand new playground. Stage two is a court-resurfacing/multi sport surface and a pump track, and finally stage three is a skate park.

■ A pump track is a purpose-built track for cycling. It has a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders “pumping”  — generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedalling or pushing.

The pump track in Gisborne caters for a range of people from the community who want to try something new.

TAT were offered the opportunity to host a global world championship pump track competition at the end of last year, but the  volunteer organisation didn’t have the capacity to deliver it in a short time frame.

The offer came off the back of hosting the 2022 Aotearoa pump track nationals and UCI world qualifying round.