Graeme Simpson: How do we honour volunteers?

Loud costumes and volunteers are at the heart of the Singlespeed World Championships in November. Photo/Alan Ofsoski

Today is the final day of Volunteer's Week.

How do you celebrate all the volunteers who've bent their backs on our trails since 1990?
As someone commented to me this week, name one and you really need an hour or more to list the thousands of wonderful folk who've contributed - not just to trail building and maintenance, to events, clubs and the Rotorua Trails Trust, as well.
The trail system stands on the shoulders of a lot of giants. Some trails took months, even years, to build.

The last (of four monthly) Trails Trust working bees is tomorrow from 9am at the Dodzy Skills Park at the end of Long Mile Road. Tools are provided or bring your own.
Volunteers fuel all the working bees and the trust, itself.
The next four working bees are on Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 16 on the trails and Sunday, July 9 and July 23 on the Skills Park. Rotorua Trails Trust on Facebook has all the details.

An event I'm a bit familiar with also relies on a loyal and enthusiastic group of volunteers. The Singlespeed World Championships are on Saturday, November 18 organised by the Rotorua Singlespeed Society: www.sswcRotorua2017.nz
Since the first New Zealand Singlespeed Championships the society ran in 2008, the backbone of all their events has been people giving up their own time for beers and T-shirts.

And the driving force behind that first event was a group of mates who'd worked on the 2006 UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships - from heads of departments to course designers to sponsors and those who were in the trenches as day-to-day volunteers.

2006 had an operational budget, but a slender one.
It may never have happened if not for the hard work of a group of locals centred round the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club who worked to get it here in the first place. The "volunteer" word, again.

It's only two weeks till the three-race Cyclezone Winter Nduro MTB Series begins on July 2. These are events that are for just about anyone with race distances that suit riders from social to elite. If you've not raced before this is the event to dip your toe in the water. Enter online at wintermtb.co.nz.

Volunteers were a big part of an event that brought large numbers of people and dollars into Rotorua last weekend. The Lions vs Maori All Blacks game wasn't one for the ages, though I grew up in the 1960s on a diet of rugby test matches where anything over 20 points per side was a miracle. The marvellous atmosphere in the city made up for that.

At the pub, pre-game, we were surrounded by Lions supporters. It was the same on a very slippery bank at the International Stadium. There was a lot of very well orchestrated "Lions, Lions, Lions" chants from a school First XV group from Durham in England who were standing in front of us. They were a top group of lads. There was no gloating at the end, just satisfaction at a job well done by their team and handshakes and best wishes all round.

And so on to Eden Park tonight.