Source: Radio New Zealand
Mountain-bikers say Wellington’s Matairangi/Mount Victoria trails provide a unique environment of “world class” riding just a stone’s throw from the central city, but a recent spate of vandalism has underlined community discontent over the growing network of trails on the hill.
The local residents’ association president said some people avoided the area, because of concerns over safety.
On almost any clear day in the Wellington suburb, mountain-bikers thread their way through a network of trails in the green belt that stands just a short climb from the central city’s party district of Courtenay Place.
The hill is criss-crossed by a maze of some 25.5km of trails and paths, used by walkers, runners, mountain-bikers and sightseers.
The trails have been designated as either walker-priority shared trails, walker-only or bike-only trails.
The green belt tracks were damaged and blocked off in December. Wellington City Council
[H] Trails range from beginner to highly technical riding
Mountain-bike racer Iley Nunns, 18, started riding in Matairangi as a part of Wellington Off-Road Department (WORD) youth rides, when she was 10 years old.
In 2025, she represented New Zealand at the UCI Enduro World Champs in Switzerland.
She said the riding on the hill was “world class”.
“Mt Vic can get very challenging, because of the roots and the clay,” she said. “It can get very slippery in the wet, but it’s so good, because you just learn those really good technical skills, which have helped me a lot in races around the world, because I have a unique set of skills that people from [other parts of the country] might not have.”
“It’s good for my own training – as well as the WORD kids – because of the progression the trails offer. There’s jump tracks and there’s tech tracks, and they all progress, so you can start off on the easiest track, move your way up and have lots of fun.”
Mountain-biking in the area began almost as soon as the first wave of off-road bicycles hit the country’s stores in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
The early bike trails formed almost organically – albeit with a little help from the spades and saws of early devotees – but as the sport grew, trail-building groups became more active in the area, forming bermed corners, drops and jumps, and working with the council to keep their handiwork and fun intact.
Mountain-bike racer Iley Nunns competing at the 2025 UCI Enduro World Championships in Switzerland. Supplied
Man formally warned by police following trail vandalism
Not everyone was happy with mountain-bikers’ presence in the area.
In early December, locals reported mountain-bike trail-marking signs torn down, holes dug out in riding lines, and logs and stumps strewn across tracks.
Later in the month, police confirmed a man had been formally warned “for endangering life or safety by criminal nuisance”, after admitting to vandalising the mountain-bike trails.
Residents fearful of ‘people crashing around on bikes’
Mount Victoria Residents Association president Ellen Blake said her group had heard concerns from locals and walkers in the area as far back as the early 2000s.
She said residents worried about close shaves with riders and the impact of bike trails on the area’s ecology.
“A lot of different people use the park in a different way, but we were hearing quite a lot of concerns from people who walked up there, and felt threatened or frightened by mountain-bike activity,” she said.
Mount Victoria Residents’ Association president Ellen Blake says some residents feel threatened by the presence of riders among walking tracks on Mount Victoria. Supplied
“Some of it was about the damage that was done to the tracks [and] just from people walking up there being frightened by people whooshing out of tracks.”
Blake said some members avoided the area because of it.
“Who should be giving way is what I want to know. Is it the people on the bike or the people walking?
“Normally, in traffic situations, it’s the person in charge of the vehicle that needs to be in control of it, and to manage their speed there and how they behave. We’ve flipped the presumptions up there, I think.
“We’re not on the road. We go to the park to get away from that.
“People go up there because it’s all nice green and bushy, and they like to hear the birds and see the sights. It shouldn’t be that people have to watch out for people crashing around on bikes.”
She said her group had asked the council to ensure that mountain-bike-only trails were equally matched by trails designated for walkers.
“We’ve got the mountain bikers fighting their corner and everybody else on the other side. We haven’t got a solution.
“What we’ve got is 12 mountain-bike-only tracks and no other option for other people.”
Vicky Robertson flanked by volunteers, as they plant native trees along the Hatatai side of Mt Victoria. Supplied
Room for everyone
Matairangi Trail Group’s Vicky Robertson said the group co-ordinated their volunteers with the council’s input to maintain mountain-bike trails – and cross over points with other tracks – as well as picking up rubbish and planting native trees in the area.
She said GPS measurements of the area showed nearly 15km of the 25.5km trail network were designated walker-priority, with another 2.5km of tracks as walking-only.
“I would say there’s room for everyone up there,” she said. “There is a small group of dog-walkers up there, who are off-leash.
“There’s a small group of walkers who are aggressive, there’s a small group of teenage mountain-bikers who aren’t respectful to others, so I think – on our part – there’s a part of an education and respect piece that needs to be done, particularly with our younger people.”
“WORD does a fantastic job of this and I think, if we can build on what we’re doing with the young people up there, that would really help,” Robertson said.
Vicky Robertson says volunteers have planted up to 8700 native trees in the area over the last five years. Supplied
Young riders learning trail etiquette
WORD national operations manager Nicola Johnson said the charity’s instructors taught more than 1000 young riders each year and often used the Mount Victoria trails for their group classes.
She said they encouraged their young riders to participate in maintaining local trails and to learn proper trail etiquette.
“If you’re standing still or walking, and someone’s coming towards you at high speed, it can be terrifying and I completely get how walkers can feel in that space.
“It has got better in terms of how the mountain-bike trails are a little bit more directed away from the walking trails. The signage has got better.
“I think there might be a little bit more work to do in that space, just to make sure that walkers are safe and also riders are safe. You want everyone to have a good time up there, it’s such a special place.”
“I don’t think it’s unmanageable, [but] I think there are some pinch points for sure – at entrances and exits of trails – and that’s something that we encourage our instructors and our kids to move to the side of the trail, and let people get by,” Johnson said.
Sixteen-year-old mountain-bike racer Kiera Vlaar started out doing WORD courses. This year, she took out three victories in the U17s of this year’s IXS downhill cup series in Europe.
She said she loved the accessibility of riding so close to the city, and how she and her friends could get “loads of laps” riding in the compact area.
She said she did encounter people – often tourists looking for Lord of the Rings filming locations – walking on the mountain-bike tracks.
“It does get quite busy at times,” Vlaar said. “You get on the brakes really quickly and tell them that riders are coming down these tracks, and it’s going to put you in a bit of a difficult situation, if they don’t see you and you don’t see them.”
Wellington City Council told RNZ it kept track of how many people used the hill’s 12 bike-priority trails with track counters.
It said major improvements had been made in the past decade, but there were still opportunities for improvement, and the council liaised with locals, restoration groups, trail runners and bike riders – along with the council’s own accessibility focus group – on this.
In recent years, tracks had been widened or – in the case of the Hataitai to City Walkway – resurfaced to improve safety, and signage improved to signal whether a track was walker or bike-priority.
Intersection alignments had been improved to remove crossing points, slow riders and improve sight-lines, it said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
