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Hundreds of mountain bikers will descend on Dunedin in March when the city hosts the Oceania championships for the first time.
"I'm pleased about it. It is a coup for Dunedin," Mountain Biking Otago president Hamish Seaton told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
The event will attract about 150 of the best riders from Oceania and the support staff will double the number coming to Dunedin for the championships from March 18 to 21.
The Oceania championships is a genuine international-level mountain bike event, with all the Oceania cycling federations expected to send strong teams to Dunedin.
It is an event where New Zealand's mountain bike elite and age group riders can measure themselves against their peers and take on Oceania's best.
Former BikeNZ board member Ron Mackersy said the championships counted for Union of Cycling International (UCI) points, world rankings and for international events and world championships.
"In the cross-country event it counts for Commonwealth Games and Olympic selection," he said.
The event was originally scheduled to be held at Coronet Peak, but the skifield managers decided not to open the mountain in the summer months this year.
"The second choice was Rotorua, where the world championships were held two years ago," Seaton said.
The downhill, hill climb and four-cross events will be held on the Signal Hill course and the cross-country at Forrester Park and Bethunes Gully.
Seaton has worked with Taskforce Green to upgrade the quality of the mountain bike courses at both venues to get them up to UCI standard.
The four-cross events have not been held in Dunedin before and a new course has been constructed for the Oceania championships.
"We have spent about 1000 hours improving the quality of our courses," Seaton said.
Sheryl MacLeod, who was New Zealand's top female downhill rider before breaking her neck last year, was pleased with the decision to bring the event to Dunedin.
"Its awesome," she said. "It will be the biggest mountain bike event ever held in the city, will create a lot of interest in the sport, and be a big boost to Dunedin business.
It is fabulous and I'm excited about it."
New Zealand's top mountain biker, Justin Leov, has recently shifted to Dunedin and will start as favourite to win the Oceania downhill title. He was 10th at this year's world championships.
Dunedin will have a dress rehearsal for the Oceania championships when it hosts the second event in the New Zealand series on January 16 and 17.
The New Zealand championships will be held in Wellington from February 26 to March 21.