Graeme Simpson: Kudos to Crankworx team

Spectactular Slopestyle. Photo/Crankworx

The sign of how well organised an event is often only surfaces when something like a weather bomb rolls in and everyone has to react.

Event organisers have had a real workout this year with torrential rain affecting more of them than anyone can remember.

Crankworx didn't escape that. And that was when a management team, already working long days, really showed their mettle. Shift one event and it has a ripple effect across the park - ticketing, volunteers, TV broadcast schedules.

From the outside looking in it all felt... seamless. I was on two email lists - Rotorua Lakes Council and Crankworx media - and the information flow was superb. And calm and reassuring, sometimes not easy to pull off in what were difficult and unpredictable conditions.

So, kudos to Tak Mutu and all his very big team (and he'd be the first one to point out that it is a mighty team effort). That includes the media department who had to get event previews and reports out as well as event scheduling changes.

I treated myself to a VIP pass on Sunday for the Slopestyle. In 2016, the event left me gasping for air with skills that are genuinely breathtaking. As a friend commented, these guys are wired differently than most of us. And in the middle of a full 1080 their spatial awareness must be off the charts.

I dropped into the ticketing office on Friday afternoon to pick up my pass. Melanie Short from Sport Bay of Plenty was running the VIP area and overheard my comment about buying the pass specifically for Slopestyle. Apparently, discussions were under way about shifting it to Sunday. Melanie assured me if that happened my pass would be honoured for Saturday. That is exactly what happened and another issue that scheduling changes raised was handled with calm aplomb.

The Slopestyle really was jaw-droppingly extraordinary. A noisy, joyous crowd packed into Skyline on a beautiful autumn afternoon and the action was spectacular. My favourite rider is Nicholi Rogatkin. Like most of these guys he's a ball of energy and adrenalin and he was fired up on Saturday. His winning run was insane... in a good way.

Some scheduling changes can actually benefit events. The Whip-off was moved to a time slot on Friday evening, which meant it was run under lights, heightening the drama for a big crowd - and the riders.

Volunteers underpin Crankworx. It's a great team. My mate Jonathon Cuff is one of them. Alongside another hard, hard worker, Descend Rotorua's Dave Hamilton, Jono toiled away during the week and for days before preparing the downhill course. I've worked with Jono on Singlespeed events and he's a machine.

Another machine is Ash Edwards who works for the Rotorua Trails Trust. I caught up with him over a beer at the Slopestyle. It's not just events impacted by all that unusually heavy weather. Trails cop it too. Ash estimates he's removed more than 50 downed trees this year alone. One way to support his work is to join the trust: rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz/join.

An event that had to be postponed because of a weather bomb in March was the annual Nzo Moonride, Rotorua's longest running mountain bike race and a real icon.

It's now on April 22 and entry is still open: www.eventpromotions.co.nz/events/rotorua-moonride/.