The aftermath of Muscle Car Madness at Rangiora’s A&P Showgrounds. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
That mud was exacerbated by vehicles driving through it and, in some cases, deliberately spinning their wheels. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel as though anyone\u2019s totally to blame, but I\u2019m very upset at the behaviour of a handful of people,\u201d said Stare. <\/p>\n
Police said they were disappointed with the behaviour of some people camping at the site, describing their behaviour as falling \u201cwell below what is acceptable\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cPolice have raised concerns about the suitability of the camping ground and whether it should continue there in future years,\u201d said Inspector Peter Cooper, Area Commander Canterbury Rural. <\/p>\n
But Stare says it\u2019s unfair to tar all campers with the same brush. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really think the camping is the problem because I\u2019ve been there for 35 years with only minor discrepancies. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe bring all the facilities, showers and toilets and everything. It\u2019s just totally down to the disgusting weather and a handful of idiots that just wouldn\u2019t put their cars away, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Muscle Car Madness at the Rangiora A&P Showgrounds. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
Stare says they tried to keep order at the campsite, but the conditions made it difficult. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem was it was so muddy that we couldn\u2019t get across to the other half of the A&P Showgrounds. The golf carts were bogged down, even walking was extremely hard. You hear someone playing up and by the time you got over there you couldn\u2019t even find them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe even had police go over to the campsites as well and help us out,\u201d said Stare. <\/p>\n
Inspector Cooper said the police remained highly visible throughout the event. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the course of the event, police and court bailiffs seized and\/or impounded 11 vehicles, and completed enforcement action including four excess breath alcohol detections and one related arrest,\u201d said Cooper. <\/p>\n
He also acknowledged the difficulty that the weather caused. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenging weather over the weekend created further pressure for organisers, however there did not appear to be an adequate contingency or wet\u2011weather plan in place, which contributed to the issues encountered,\u201d said Cooper. <\/p>\n
Stare says the amount of rain was well beyond what they had expected or dealt with before. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey said, \u2018Do we have a rain plan\u2019 or something? But I mean you need more than a rain plan. It\u2019s rained there before and it\u2019s been no problem. Rangiora, I think they got about 37 or 38 millimetres of rain in one day.\u201d <\/p>\n
The 2026 event was Stare\u2019s last in charge. The founder of the show recently sold it to former All Black Brodie Retallick. The North Canterbury local, who is still playing rugby professionally in Japan, will take control from March 31. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s [Retallick] also rung up from Japan to contact the A&P Association and the mayor and everybody to see if there\u2019s something he can do to help,\u201d said Stare.<\/p>\n
Brodie Retallick and Craig Stare. The former All Black has purchased Muscle Car Madness from Stare, the event’s founder. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The showgrounds are owned by the Northern A&P Association. <\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, they don\u2019t hold a grudge. The initial feedback was they\u2019re extremely disappointed – I don\u2019t think that they\u2019re angry. It\u2019s a disappointing thing to happen, isn\u2019t it?\u201d said Stare. <\/p>\n
A Givealittle page has been created by event organisers to repair the damage done to the showgrounds turf. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the weather was out of everyone\u2019s control, but some of the driving was not,\u201d reads the page. <\/p>\n
The page is attempting to raise $30,000 \u2013 it\u2019s at almost $5000. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverything that comes in, the amount that we get will be presented to them, just in good faith really,\u201d said Stare.<\/p>\n
Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Waimakariri District Mayor Dan Gordon acknowledged the importance of the event to the local economy and says he \u201calways enjoys attending\u201d. He echoed Stare\u2019s thoughts on a few ruining it for the rest. <\/p>\n
\u201cDriving around the perimeter of the camp has long been part of the culture of the event and in normal, dry conditions it does not cause significant damage. This year, with heavily saturated ground, that same behaviour by a few caused unfortunate damage,\u201d said Gordon. <\/p>\n
Those responsible will be identified by event organisers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working with the new owners to make sure that those people don\u2019t come again. We know one of the main culprits, so that one will be straightforward,\u201d says Stare. <\/p>\n
Both the Waimakariri District Council and police will review the event \u2013 a process that occurs with \u201cevery major event\u201d. Gordon says the council will work with the new owners to ensure \u201clessons are learned\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The aftermath of Muscle Car Madness at Rangiora’s A&P Showgrounds. Photo \/ Supplied That mud was exacerbated by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4995,1060,6326,3944,104738,8231,5504,71,3273,3012,809,2064,12942,111,43,139,69,48717,1523,148138,312,27950,418,61,148139,4767,2963],"class_list":["post-256947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-away","tag-ban","tag-biggest","tag-car","tag-chaotic","tag-event","tag-following","tag-from","tag-future","tag-hopes","tag-keep","tag-madness","tag-muscle","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-organiser","tag-over","tag-rangiora","tag-says","tag-seeks","tag-shows","tag-to","tag-troublemakers","tag-weekend","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}