Wellington City Council park rangers are installing motion-activated cameras in the Town Belt on Matairangi/Mt Victoria after a spate of vandalism that appears to target mountain bikers. Photo: Wellington City Council
By Noam Mānuka Lazarus, Massey University journalism student
A champion cyclist is "disgusted" by a spate of vandalism in Wellington's Town Belt which appears to be targeting mountain bikers.
Wellington City Council is installing motion-activated cameras as a result.
Over the past few days, the council said logs, stumps and other obstacles had been placed on several mountain bike trails in places where, if hit by a mountain bike rider, they could cause serious injury.
Mens U21 NZ National Enduro champion Lachie Ross rides the Mt Victoria bike trails around four times a week.
Ross was "disgusted" to hear about the endangerment of people on what he thinks are the best trails for kids in the Wellington region.
"If you go any weekday, any weekend, there will be hundreds and hundreds of kids up there."
"The amount of work that the council has put in to put these barriers in place and separate the mountain bikers and walkers is very fair," he said.
Council parks manager Bradley Schroder said timber had also been fastened to trees at a height with the apparent intention of injuring riders.
He said fencing and signage had also been removed mainly around the V, Rockdrop and Shuttlecock tracks. However, he cautioned riders that it should not be taken for granted that other trails have not been vandalised.
Wellington City Council park rangers are installing motion-activated cameras in the Town Belt on Matairangi/Mt Victoria after a spate of vandalism that appears to target mountain bikers. Photo: Wellington City Council
Schroder said the police had been notified and cameras would be installed adjacent to the bike trails with the aim of identifying the culprits or deterring them.
"We are extremely concerned about what's going on - we're in touch with the mountain biking community and we're warning riders to take extra care while using trails on Matairangi/Mt Victoria."
He said the mountain bike trails on Mt Victoria were designed and heavily-signposted to minimise the risk of riders and other Town Belt users from coming into conflict.
"We know some people in the community don't like that the Town Belt is a shared space for walkers, runners, riders and other track users but we won't tolerate people doing things to put other people in harm's way."
Schroder urged the public to call the council on 04 499 4444 if they spotted any vandalism or suspected any person of performing vandalism.
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