Skate ramp heads to new home in Moerewa

Kerikeri’s skate ramp on its way to its new home in Moerewa. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A skate ramp of their own will open up new sporting opportunities for Moerewa youth, a community leader says.

As part of the redevelopment of Kerikeri's skate park, the old ramp and half-pipe has been dismantled and trucked to Moerewa.

While the ramp is not new, it is good enough to be used in the annual Vert Jam national skateboarding contest.

Community stalwart Pamela-Anne Simon said skateboarding was not currently a major pastime in Moerewa but that was because there were no facilities in the area.

The ramp would give local youth opportunities to explore another code, one which was now an Olympic sport.

''I'm really excited about this for the kids. My mokos ask their mum to take them to Kaikohe or Kerikeri to use the skate park, so I thought this was something we should have here. Anything to keep our kids active.''

Possible locations for the ramp included the old netball court at Simson Park or Nesbit Park, opposite the BP service station.

Nesbit Park was her preference because its main street location meant people always had an eye on it.

Simon said the playground in Nesbit Park was currently the only public recreation facility for Moerewa children and was constantly in use.

She had started applying for grants to cover the cost of repairing and installing the ramp.

She had just 48 hours to decide if she wanted the ramp so didn't have time to fundraise beforehand.

It was trucked to Moerewa at the start of level 3, after a delay caused by the Covid-19 lockdown, and was currently stored on church property.

She hoped it would be installed within the next few months.

Meanwhile, demolition of the rest of Kerikeri's skate park is now complete.

The new Kerikeri skate park will be built by former pro skater Dave Crabb and will cost $680,000.

The funding comes from a $3 million grant by the Provincial Growth Fund (now Kānoa Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit) to upgrade Kerikeri Domain.