Fighting fit: Hawke's Bay locals set trails record while in lockdown

Lockdown was a chance for Hawke's Bay to get fitter, and the region's residents took up the challenge. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay residents used the Covid-19 lockdown to become trailblazers, smashing out a record-breaking 77,000 cycle and walking trips on the region's trails.

It's a number that's surprised even the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, which thought the cancellation of the Big Easy and the closure of 25 per cent of the trails for community safety would cause numbers of people using them to drop.

Vicki Butterworth, Hawke's Bay Regional Council Cycle Network coordinator, said in April the regional council counted 77,334 walking and biking trips on the Hawke's Bay Trails network.

That was up 15 per cent from April 2019 and a new record month on the trails, which are one of NZ's 22 "Great Rides".

The regional council counted 77,334 walking and biking trips on the network in April.

"This is pretty surprising because we didn't have our favourite Big Easy event at Easter, had no visitors to the region, and 25 per cent of the trails were closed for community safety," she said.

"Trail numbers are monitored across 10 counters spread across the nearly 200km network. These numbers show us that with no visitors to the region, locals during lockdown have been getting out using the trails.

"It shows how beneficial this infrastructure is to the Hawke's Bay community, especially in coping with Covid-19 and being able to get out safely for short walks or bike rides."

She said the trails had a monitoring roster of staff who visited parts of the trails, regional parks, and river access points to keep an eye on them.

"We've ramped this up during the lockdown. We also regularly talk to landowners and people who lease the land, eg, sheep grazers, about what's going on along the trails," Butterworth said.

She said the council undertook partial trail closures to stop people touching the gates after the council noted a "massive increase" in people using the trails during lockdown.

"To keep our community safe from more community transmission, we closed parts of our trails where people have to open a gate to access the trail.

"Some gates cannot be permanently left open due to either design, stock and risk of unauthorised vehicles," she said.

"Locals can walk and bike on the trails but need to maintain 2m distancing and wash their hands. We've put up signage all over the trails and have put the information on the front page of our website and our Facebook page."

Bayden Barber, board chair of Health Hawke's Bay, said he had witnessed an increase in people walking along the beach and using the trails as well.

"It is certainly a trend I fully support and hope it continues," Barber said.

"I would like to continue seeing a decrease in the use of automobiles and an increase in passive transport like walking and biking.

"We have some beautiful trails in Hawke's Bay and it's great to see people using them within the restrictions.

"We want to see people getting out and enjoying what Hawke's Bay has to offer, while staying within level 3 restrictions."