Rotorua's Jeremy Christmas will take up the chief of commissaire's role at the 2014 Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in South Africa.
Christmas will complete a rapid rise in the official ranks when he heads to South Africa in June.
Like a referee in rugby or umpire in cricket the commissaire is there to ensure the competition is conducted within the rules and every athlete gets the best opportunity possible.
A self-described "average racer" on a mountain bike, Christmas got serious about the trackside support roles just prior to the 2006 World Mountain Biking Championships which were held in Rotorua.
"I loved mountain biking and I was keen to put something back into the club firstly, then the world champs were in Rotorua and I got involved as a volunteer and the next level up was to be a referee and I thought I'd give that a go," he said.
What followed was trips to the United States, Europe and Asia as he was put through a series of practical, written, oral and event-based examinations to move up the national and world rankings. He is now New Zealand's top off-road commissaire.
Some of the roles of a commissaire include checking the compliance of equipment, monitoring compliance with the rules, maintaining safety during racing, resolving disputes and judging results. Sitting as a panel the commissaires serve as a race jury chaired by the chief commissaire. The chief is the holder of ultimate authority over the event.
Christmas is also the Rotorua Bike Festival Trust chairman and a New Zealand mountain bike selector and team manager.
Christmas believed there was an opportunity for New Zealand, more particularly Rotorua, to get on the world scene again in the future with the marathon championships.
"We have the will of the council, we have some of the best mountain biking in the world, we have some of the best track builders in the world, we have a great tourism resource and we would be off-season to Europe."
Christmas also works at Waiariki Institute of Technology as the head of the Department for Forestry and Resource Management.