Kahutara School project nears completion.

Kahutara School’s small BXM track, built in 2008, was due for an upgrade , however Principal Clare Crawford probably didn’t realise what she was letting herself in for when she asked parent Shane Hislop if he had any ideas for improvements. He did have an idea; the removal of some old macrocarpa trees in the school grounds left room to develop a new full size track. Clare agreed as long as Shane did all the organising.

Shane and his sons Connor (11) and Samuel (10) are competitive BMX riders currently ranked 25th and 23rd respectively in New Zealand and Shane says “it keeps me young”. As there are no regulation BMZ tracks in Wairarapa they have to travel to the Hutt Valley Thunderbolts track to train and compete.

First Shane designed a 300 metre track which meets competition standards and then set about co-ordinating the actual work. He said that the support and enthusiasm of parents, and some former parents, has been amazing, for instance the Vollebregt brothers offered fill from their farm across the road. Without this proximity the project would not be possible.

Kevin Bargh was the first of eight farmers with tractors and eight tonne tipping trailers and one with a 30 tonne excavator to all enthusiastically sign up. Two commercial digger operators , Jeremy Bennett and Arron Woodcock, along with farmer Dave Bosch offered their digger services.

Over three weekends around 3,000 tonne of fill has been moved on site and moulded into curves and jumps. Shane estimates that the work done so far represents at least $30,000 in commercial terms.

BMX tracks require watering systems and here too Shane has received great support. Landcorp provided a water tank , Stewart Electrical a water pump and Water Force water pipe fittings. Shane, an electrician and water pump technician is setting up the system.

The icing on the cake – or in this case the lime on the track – came with the winning of the $5,000 first prize in the annual Stafix Powering Your Community contest. Stafix, an electric fencing company, offered the prize to the best school project, entrants described their project in a 3,000 word essay with the decision being made by public vote. Kahutara Parent Committee Lynette Cherry penned the school’s entry which clearly caught the voter’s approval.

Kahutara pipped Wellsford School’s School bus shed project for first place by twenty votes , Wellsford receiving $3,000 with Waipera School receiving $2,000 for their third placed school van project.

Three local truckies have offered to cart the lime free of charge which only leaves acquiring a suitable roller as a major ‘to do’, for which Shane is currently seeking funding. With a suitable run of weather he is hopeful of having the track ready by spring – the only full size BMX track in the Wairarapa.
‘Hizzy’ would like to say thanks for the over whelming support of the community in enabling him to achieve this undertaking and is looking forward to seeing happy little faces lightening up “like when we were kids”.

Clare Crawford had said the track would be open to the community once complete and she fully supported the region sharing in the benefits of the project. “It’s not just for our school or just our community, but for the whole of Wairarapa as well. It’s going to be an asset for everybody.”