A Big Year for Thames Mountain Bike Club

Following our AGM on 9 March 2026, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what our club has achieved together over the 12 months leading up to this date. It’s been a big year of trail building, community engagement, and conservation — made possible by the dedication of our volunteers and supporters.

Here’s a snapshot of what we achieved over the past year:

1,000+ volunteer hours contributed to trail building, maintenance, and conservation work.

Trail development and upgrades

• Secured $40,000 in grants to upgrade the top section of the Karaka Trail

• Built 1km of brand-new trail at Hotoritori and logged 216 maintenance hours

• Logged 211 hours maintaining and upgrading trails at Moanataiari, including St John trail tidy-ups, gate replacement, and progress on a new jump line

New equipment

• Secured $20,869 grant funding from the Lion Foundation for a Canycom heavy-duty 4WD mower to help maintain the Moanataiari access road, pump track area, and the Hotoritori trail network

Conservation efforts

• 435 volunteer hours checking 75 predator traps along the Karaka–Waiotahi loop

• Installed 10 new AT220 automatic resetting possum traps thanks to receiving a $5,675.25 funding grant from Environment Waikato.

• Added 10 upgraded DOC200 trap mechanisms thanks to the Seagull Centre funding grant of $950

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Community impact

• Weekly after-school riding program with Thames High School – now with 21 students involved

• Hosted the Big Bike Film Night, raising $700 for club projects

• We’ve also been fortunate to receive generous support and donations from local businesses to help progress key trail upgrades

We also secured a COGS grant to help cover essential operational costs such as website hosting and public liability insurance.

A huge thank you to every volunteer, partner organisation, and supporter who helped make this year possible. The trails — and the community around them — are stronger because of you.

Here’s to another year of building, riding, and giving back.