The Mudbuster Enduro is a mountain bike event held mid-winter each year at Middle Hill MTB park. Good vibes, camping, movies, and great racing are all included!
The Mudbuster Enduro is still in its infancy. 2023 was its 4th edition. The Mudbuster is held annually at Middle Hill Mountain Bike Park down in the Clarence Valley on the east coast of the south island. This year with 150 competitors, the main event is the 5-stage enduro race. There was camping, movies, a jump jam, grass dual slalom, (unofficial) long jump, bonfires and a skid competition!
Travelling down from Rotorua is a fair way to go. Instead of just booking it down there, I stopped in to go for a ride with Ali from ZerodeBikes on some of his local trails in Wellington before catching the Interislander ferry to Picton.
Keeping it real, on day one of this three-day event there was a group ride on Mt Fife, just behind Kaikōura for those travelling up from the deep south. For us, we were heading down from the North Island so we didn’t make it. Instead, we spent a couple of days exploring the Richmond Ranges. That place has some out-of-control backcountry riding! I travelled from Wellington south with Jeff from SouthStar Trails. He has been exploring NZ by bike for a long time and he had a few new places in mind that he wanted to check out. I was just happy to be in the hills!
The first day at Middle Hill was practice day. Jeff and I brought both our mountain bike and eBike with us so practice was all about getting as many laps in as possible on their trails. We spent the morning on the eBikes draining the batteries, before refuelling with some lunch and heading back up the hill on our mountain bikes! The stages were all set out and the vibe was awesome with people checking out the tricky bits trying to sus out their lines for race day!
That evening there was a jump jam on their little jump line and movie night to get all inspired before race day.
We woke up to a chilly morning, beautiful views out of the rooftop tent, excited to participate in this 5-stage race with 150 other good humans. Racing started at 10am and the temperature was dreamy. The climb to the top was enough to warm you up before dropping into the first stage. The snack table at the mid point was all-time and I couldn’t resist a banana muffin on my way past. The locals of the Clarence Valley had all chipped in and supplied fruit, pastries, and baking to fuel us all on the day and it was delicious!
The racing was epic. The vibe was chill. The extracurricular activities were very entertaining!
All in all, the event ran super smoothly and I can’t wait until the next one!
If you are interested, the results are here and you can check out the Middle Hill MTB website while you are at it!
Thank you to all those who put in the work to make it happen, show up and ride, and provide the good vibes for an epic weekend of bikes.
At New Zealand Mountain Biking, we run epic mountain biking tours across the scenic North Island, New Zealand. We also help riders build confidence and skills in our MTB and eMTB private lessons on the legendary Rotorua trails. If you race or you want to get into some racing and you want to improve those skills, get in touch for some lessons!
You can learn more about our trips here to book your ride today!
