Rotorua Trails Trust chairman Grant Utteridge says being nominated and selected as a finalist has been a bit of a surprise.
"It's pretty cool. The category we are in is in the community section and it's about taking the community for a ride," Utteridge says.
"We talked about this last night and thought that really our community has taken us for a great ride, and they've acknowledged how great Whakarewarewa and Rotorua is."
Grant says the strength of the trust is the volunteers, with 70 people who have adopted trails inside Whakarewarewa and who maintain them in their own time.
He says its strategic plan is around making Rotorua's trails effectively the best in the world.
"So while we've got Whaka as the kingpin at the moment our plan is to develop more initiatives throughout the city."
As well as extending trails for mountain biking, the trust develops trails suitable for walkers, trampers, runners, cyclists and horse riders.
They also hold working bees on the trails.
Grant says the Rotorua Lakes Council has come on board, particularly in the last 12 months to two years, and they have a good working relationship.
"They are really supportive - the whole community is really supportive."
Rotorua Trails Trust trail manager Damian Clarke says it is because of volunteers that the trust emerged.
Damian will be heading to the awards dinner at the end of next month and says he is looking forward to seeing the new trails down in Palmerston North.
They say the awards dinner is a great opportunity to share ideas with other trusts and providers.
"It's a pretty close community, the whole mountain biking community. They are all very envious."
The awards are organised by the NZ Transport Agency and Cycling Action Network (CAN).
The winners will be announced at the 2WALKandCYCLE Conference awards dinner, held in Palmerston North on July 31.
