They wanted to expand a small BMX track at the Rotorua BMX club into the ultimate dirt jump track.
As the track grew too big for the club's land, Daniel's father, Grant Butterworth, asked the council if they could have a section of land next to the track.
The council thought "it was a great idea" and they received resource consent within a month and about $5000 in funding, Daniel said.
After that "everything moved very quickly" and the building began at the start of 2020.
Daniel said, "most afternoons I'll be down there, whether it's working on them [jumps] or I will just be riding them".
He has spent about 1000 hours working on the track so far, the bulk of it built by himself, his father, Ryan and digger driver Lloyd Jenks.
Daniel said he felt something like this was missing in Rotorua.
"We have jumps spots like Dodzys but that's always super bumpy and you can never really ride that on a jump bike and there's no real place for just dirt jumps in Rotorua."
He said the Log Yard Dirt Jumps had definitely added to Rotorua's reputation as a biking destination.
Log Yard Dirt Jumps before development. Photo / Supplied
Log Yard Dirt Jumps after development. Photo / Supplied
"You see heaps of the little kids who I coach at the BMX club, we always take them on it and they are slowly progressing, doing the little lines and then the midlines."
Daniel has been a coach at the Rotorua BMX Club for three years.
"We've got 6-year-olds doing some pretty big jumps and it's pretty crazy what this 10-year-old kid can do, he's jumping one of the bigger lines going 3m in the air.
"Crankworx was a few weeks ago and we had heaps of the pro riders coming down and they were loving it - a spot to ride before the event.
"It's definitely helped my skills in jumping and being able to do tricks."
Daniel was aware of the many illegal tracks in Rotorua but didn't want to follow this trend.
"I wanted to do something cool and make sure that they'll be able to stay there forever.
"I thought it would be cool if everyone could know about them and be well known as a cool spot to ride."
The crew was offered plenty of help. Equipment was lent to them and funding was provided by Wide Open NZ and the Rotorua Lakes Council.
Clair Scott, Mountain Bike Club president and Trails Trust trustee, said she was proud of Daniel and Ryan's hard work.
"That's the sort of thing that we love. We see this passionate group of youths that are like, 'you know what? We know that we can do this and we can do it epic but let's make sure we go through the right channels'."
The track is fenced off to ensure the jumps are safe, however, it is open to anyone with a BMX or jump bike.
Daniel said they had help from many local businesses.
Not only had a new dirt track been added to Rotorua's collection, but four new grade five technical trails would potentially be built in the Whakarewarewa Forest.
This comes as feedback for more challenging technical trials was given to the Rotorua Trails Trust.
The new trails will be community-built by more young people, like Daniel and Ryan.
"This kid, he's super passionate, he wants to build a trail so he's working with the trust to build that grade five trail he really wants to see in the forest," Scott said.
The consent and planning process was still under way.
Scott said a "track scope with a couple of passionate locals" will be happening soon.
