Two biking pros move to Queenstown from Rotorua to 'get to that next level'

Tuhoto-Ariki Pene, mountain biker is moving to Queenstown for the summer. Photo / Supplied

Professional mountain biker Robin Goomes moved to Rotorua a year ago specifically for the city's mountain bike trails.

But now the 25-year-old free-rider feels the trails have given her all they have to offer and she has passed the point of progression in Rotorua. So she is moving to Queenstown.

Professional mountain biker Tuhoto-Ariki Pene feels the same way and is also making the move to find more challenging trails.

However, mountain biking advocates feel Rotorua has enough challenging tracks for athletes, and those who aren't feeling challenged represent a "small number of the riding community".

Free-rider Robin Goomes is moving to Queenstown. Photo / Supplied

Goomes appreciated Rotorua for helping her improve but she felt Rotorua was missing trails with higher grades, difficult jumps and more to challenge her.

She said Rotorua was "good for the majority of people to get to a certain point and then you need more". The move south will allow her to focus on her riding and "get to that next level".

Queenstown has "a lot more variety and just higher grades of difficulty".

Rotorua currently has 18 grade 5 trails and two grade 6 trails, excluding those at Skyline. Queenstown has 32 grade 5 trails and five grade 6 trails, excluding Gorge Rd and Kerry Drive.

Grade 1 to 3 trails make up 77 of Rotorua's 123 trails and 33 of Queenstown's 104 trails.

"For me, with free ride kind of being my focus there are just no good places [in Rotorua] to train on big jumps," Goomes said.

"What Queenstown has is pretty world-class, there are not many places that have all of that in one town. It's pretty special."

Pene, the 20-year-old downhill world champion, agreed.

He said Queenstown was "more similar to overseas, so it would be good if I'm training in the kind of tracks I'll be racing in".

Pene said Rotorua had a lot for trail riders but not enough challenging downhill tracks, jumps and technical trails.

Pene once worked for the Rotorua Trails Trust. He recalled not being allowed to build the "bigger downhill tracks" he wanted.

"I remember when I was working for the trails trust they were like 'nah, we're not allowed to do that because the council won't let us'."

He said for him to stay in Rotorua he would need the trust to "be allowed to build a proper downhill track with big jumps. Everywhere else in the country has it".

Pene will be in Queenstown for the summer and then decide whether to stay or return to Rotorua.

Dave Donaldson, district councillor and chairman of Mountain Bike Events Ltd board, said those not challenged were a "small number of the riding community".

Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson, December 2020. Photo / File

He said Rotorua prided itself on catering to all abilities and was a unique biking hot spot that other places were envious of.

Clair Scott, Mountain Bike Club president and Trails Trust trustee, said it was "bulls**t" to say Rotorua's tracks weren't hard enough.

"We see this with loads of our riders, however I think one of the biggest things we have to note is that we've had the likes of Jenna Hastings, Louis Hamilton, Tuhoto Ariki, Lachlan Stevens. These are all Rotorua kids who are podiuming on the world stage and they are Rotorua riders."

"Were producing world-class athletes who are riding Rotorua trails.

"We have some of the most technical rooty trails in the whole of New Zealand."

However, Scott recognised Rotorua's volcanic soil was very different to the rocky landscape in the South Island and overseas.

"We totally support our riders obviously going off and diversifying landscapes and making sure they can ride all-terrain, but you'll find lots of them end up coming home because it's Rotorua, it's the place to be."

Despite the various trails Rotorua has, some people have built illegal trails in Whakarewarewa forest without iwi consent.

Scott believed "the conception of mountain biking was from these renegade people back in the day who went into the forest and they built these gnarly trails.

"We are now in a position where mountain biking is one of our biggest economic earners in Rotorua. So we can't just have people go and build trails on private property anymore."

She said illegal tracks could potentially take away the privilege of access to the Whakarewarewa forest and have severe health and safety implications.

However, Scott said, "some of these trials are amazing. The beauty of illegal trails is that nobody knows about them, so they're low traffic.

"If these illegal trails suddenly became open to everybody they would blow out. There'd be so much traffic down them that they wouldn't be the trails they are that make them so special."

Goomes and Pene understand illegal tracks aren't fair but feel they bring the challenge they were looking for.

Goomes said the difficult technical trails were all most likely illegal or community built.

"I get it but I definitely think we need them, and those trails bring a lot of variety.

"You think about who owns that land and it is theirs, so for people to just come and build because they feel like they have the right or deserve to isn't really right. You've got to respect that, but as a rider we definitely need it and we need more."

Some young students have chosen to get consent from the iwi and council to use plots of land in the forest for new trails.

The trails trust is currently planning a new grade 5 zone with about four tracks. With consent from iwi, young people are going to build new tracks they have been wanting in Rotorua.