The last three days of the Queenstown Bike Festival were dedicated to the late Kelly McGarry, who died on February 1, 2016, after suffering a cardiac arrest while biking on the Fernhill Loop Track.
The final event of McGazza Fest, the jump jam at the Gorge Rd bike park yesterday afternoon, was called off due to rain.
Festival organiser Emmerson Wilken said the Kelly McGarry Foundation was subsequently established by a group of his mates, alongside McGazza Fest, now in its seventh year.
The foundation aimed to foster New Zealand’s mountainbike trails and talent in his honour, but eight years on, it was being wound up.
"Being a registered charity, there are obviously really specific things you have to do to qualify as that", Mr Wilken said.
"Just because us running it as the foundation, all the volunteers are also doing a bunch of other things. It was kind of hard for us to keep up with those obligations", Mr Wilken said.
"So we decided to peter off on the foundation side of things, and then on the mountainbike side — which is obviously a registered charity as well, where we’re still doing all the right things — bring it into that.
"So we can keep it going, just under the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club umbrella, rather that as a separate foundation."
The foundation had been an early sponsor of Sam Gale, who raced in national and world cup series, and was from Mr McGarry’s home town of Wakefield, in Nelson.
It also contributed to an asphalt pump track in Wakefield, and ran McGazza Fest every year.
"We obviously had bigger goals at the time, but we realised this festival was probably the best way to honour his memory", Mr Wilken said.
Mr McGarry paved the way for other New Zealand mountainbikers to compete on the world stage and put the country on the map, he said.
"The fact that we can keep this [McGazza Fest] going, and keep the spirit of that, in memory of him and what he’s done for mountainbiking in New Zealand, it’s quite a privilege to do it."
Overall, the 10-day bike festival had exceeded his expectations, Mr Wilken said.
"It’s been absolutely amazing, just the turnouts to everything and the amount of people that got involved to help pull it off.
"The weather’s been a bit difficult at times, but we’ve somehow worked our way through and still been able to have a bloody good time."
