The success of this year's Oceania championships has led to Dunedin being allocated next year's New Zealand mountain bike championships for the first time.
The four-day championships will be held on the Signal Hill course and at Forrester Park from February 24-27.
"We are building on the good work done for the Oceania championships," the president of Mountainbike Bike Otago, Hamish Seaton, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"We have the best 4-Cross course in the country and our other courses are world class."
Work is still being done to develop the tracks.
"It is good motivation for our team developing the downhill track," Seaton said.
"It will be a different course than we had last season."
The Dunedin City Council is developing new tracks at Forrester Park and these will be incorporated into the cross-country course.
The uphill, downhill and 4-cross races will be held on the Signal Hill course and the cross-country at Forrester Park.
The national mountain bike championships are held in the North Island and South Island on alternate years. Nelson was the venue when it was last held in the South Island in 2009. It has staged the event three times this century with Blenheim being the other national championship venue.
The national mountain bike schedule for next summer is:
Cross-country Cup: round 1, January 9, Tauranga; round 2, January 16, Napier; round 3, February 13, Nelson; round 4, February 20, Christchurch.
Downhill Cup: round 1, January 7-8, Tauranga; round 2, January 14-15, Napier; round 3, January 22-23 Rotorua; round 4, February 5-6, Nelson; round 5, February 11-12, Nelson; round 6, February 18-19, Christchurch.
New Zealand championships: February 24-27, Dunedin.
