..and above all a chance to start something sustainable and as Myles says, what an opportunity get the projects that needed funding off the ground. Ok, you wanted the story so if you have time to read to the end, here it is in a completely loose and generally unedited form. First, we’re over-the-moon about the money that’s been raised! We are a non-profit group and as such, we do rely on donations to continue fulfilling our mandate of providing riders a place to ride, but if we could offer a reward for your input, that is how we felt we’d like to add value for your donation. Luckily with Santa Cruz’s help, we could. It was asked earlier if we set a target and we do have a number in mind to get our projects off the ground. We’re very happy to report that we exceeded our intended goal for this fundraiser but the target is still a little further down the road to accomplish two immediate goals: 1. continue rebuilding the trails while meeting the stringent requirements of a National Park 2. and setup a sustainable entity that can continue to operate into the future without relying on donations alone. Trails: We've used this word 'sustainable' a lot, almost to the point of desensitising but stop for a minute and think about what it means for a National Park, and for TokaiMTB. Now that we have no trees to shelter the trails from the elements and also with the area reclaimed from a plantation for conservation, the pressure to make a success of the trails is on! Make no mistake, the Tokai trails (actually in the whole park) needs a major reboot and the committee have worked hard to come up with a plan but after the fire razed everything to the ground, the time we had to plan this new start was also quite literally lost in flames. We’ve been looking at the future since and came to the realisation that without a permanent structure or long-term project in place, the time for these trails providing “sport based” cycling in this part of National Park would be limited. Everyone has plans for new trails but how we found ourselves looking at the problem was to ask, “could we really just keep adding more without some sort of sustainable financial foundation to cover even the existing?” and as many of you would already know, to start any long-term project would take some short-term funding. Santa Cruz coming on-board is a result of many years worth of volunteering effort and faith in our future plans and projects. Gary Perkin waited patiently for quite a few years before we gave him the nod, indicating that we were ready to start a fundraiser with real goals. And what he came up with as a prize after a few meetings with the bosses at SC’s HQ, quite honestly left us all gob-smacked (and now Michele too). But his commitment doesn’t end there. If any of you were at the Santa Cruz pop-up party in CT, you’d know that he’s also left something quite special from his personal photographic collection for us to auction. So we approached Bootleggers Coffee Co to help with an an event and they’ve very willingly agreed to host and plan the logistics on our behalf for sometime later in the year. This is generating some keen interest from others in the industry too and between this funding drive and the auction, we should be set to achieve our goals. So until then, commence immediate goal #1, trail restoration! Through the support of Santa Cruz and Rush Sports in this fundraiser, we are now able to change this steady decline into the start of something new, so I'll just say it, we are launching a club to be the vehicle to future funding, and yes, there will be a membership fee added to the cost of park entry but as this fundraiser has shown, with the support of certain groups we will be able to offer the value we believe members deserve while keeping the cost affordable for everyone! Safety: Here’s where it gets complicated because I’ve just said the cost of the club membership needs to be affordable and safety is not cheap! So not only does there need to be a group actively working on the trails but the added strain of keeping people safe is now a major challenge because due to the area alone, as the past has shown, safety is a problem SANParks cannot tackle by itself. As a solution to the added cost individuals would have to carry, we’ve gone on a limb to gain the support for a safety project even before Tokai reopened in December 2016. This initiative has come about at great personal sacrifice, under fire from some and at a great expense to one man in particular (let’s just call him a dragon, as in the series “Dragon’s Den”, remember?) who agreed to help trial a safety initiative that only through action on the ground, could be used as proof-of-concept to rope in sponsors that would make it a lasting project. Well, as far as proof goes, Tokai is still incident free but sadly Silvermine has felt the affects of the crime displacement. Next week we start testing cellular reception in the area as a means to increase signal coverage. Hopefully this can pan out to be the start for bring in our first main sponsor. Reception, or a lack of it, is a major obstacle for safety in the mountains. We’ve seen this first-hand and hope not to have it as an obstacle again. It’s makes significant difference in response time and a valuable in any situation. We have a whole list of goals but maybe not worth going into detail now, but if you’ve ridden up to the mast at any time over the last 7 months, you would have seen some of it in action. There’ll be more information in bite-sized chunks in the near future but just know that there is so much hinging on your continued support for these community trails. Thanks again.
