You may or may not have caught wind of an exciting project developing at Kaitoke School –a whizz-bang pump track, open to all (outside school hours). 

A pump track (for those not familiar with our island’s only existing one in Okiwi) is a specialised cycling track designed to enhance riders’ skills and abilities. The tracks often incorporate berms, rollers, jumps and other obstacles.

Kaitoke students have long dreamed of a bike track on the school grounds, and now, thanks to a big fundraising push from principal Leanne Eloff, that dream looks set to become reality. But there’s something special that sets this project apart.

“With his family’s support, the pump track will be built and named in honour of our dear friend and student Levi,” says
Leanne. 

“We know he would have loved to see this happen, although he probably would have tried bringing his motorbike along too. Levi loved riding bikes and skateboards, and so do other kids on Aotea, but unfortunately there aren’t many places to do this. Our roads aren’t particularly bike-friendly, especially for children, and there are limited purpose-built recreational facilities for youth here. So we’ve kickstarted a fundraising campaign to build the Levi Golaboski Memorial Bike and Pump Track; not just for our school, but for the whole community.”

The track will be open to the community outside of school hours and will differ from Okiwi’s, both in terms of size and components. “Ours will be about 10 times the size and will have both a skills and pump track element to it, with berms, rollers and jumps. It will be constructed out of concrete and compressed lime. We did investigate using asphalt, as this would be the easiest, but it’s incredibly difficult to get asphalt to the island.”