\u201cbig day\u201d for school visits<\/a>, with about 14 schools attending.<\/p>\nPene said engaging young people was a \u201chuge part\u201d of the festival and organisers were working with schools and youth groups to get them there.<\/p>\n
Many students were excited to see world-class riders in action. Some were passionate about mountain biking and others were curious to see the sport.<\/p>\n
Image 1 of 12: Crankworx Rotorua AirDH Podium, Presented by Canopy Tours. 1st: Ryan Gilchrist, Sabina Kosarkova, 2nd: Richie Rude, Matilda Melton, 3rd: Anna Newkirk, Tegan Cruz Crankworx Rotorua AirDH winning podium (from left) Matilda Melton, Richie Rude, Ryan Gilchrist, Sabina Ko\u0161\u00e1rkov\u00e1 and Anna Newkirk. Photo \/ Clint Trahan<\/p>\n
Pene said local riders had the Whakarewarewa Forest trails \u201cin their backyard\u201d, making Rotorua a special place for generations of riders. <\/p>\n
Elite athletes were also known to spend time with young fans, often stopping for photos or chats around the event village. Some had visited schools. <\/p>\n
Pene said the riders understood the importance of \u201cgiving it back to the community\u201d.<\/p>\n
A group of 13 primary school kids from The Growing Minds Hub visited the event today. <\/p>\n
Educational psychologist Nicole Lovegrove said the group wanted to explore what was happening in the community.<\/p>\n
The academy runs a one-day-a-week programme, with students enrolled at other schools and attending the Rotorua-based initiative to support their learning. <\/p>\n
Lovegrove said the programme had been operating for about three weeks. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor children to want to learn, they need to see purpose for their learning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn event like [Crankworx] sparks that excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The visit aimed to inspire projects in the classroom, including designing bike jumps. It helped students understand the \u201cwhy\u201d behind their learning, Lovegrove said.<\/p>\n
Feed The People (FTP) Vegan Eats owner Kaya Sparke said the first day of the event led to the business selling out of burgers and she described the night as a \u201cbanger\u201d. <\/p>\n
![\"Feed]()
Feed The People (FTP) Vegan Eats owner Kaya Sparke has been serving festival-goers at Crankworx Rotorua for seven years. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n
It was Sparke\u2019s seventh year at Crankworx and she said it felt \u201creally good\u201d seeing large crowds after quieter years.<\/p>\n
Sparke expected the week to get busier, with Friday set to be \u201cquite crazy\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said the event created a relaxed atmosphere where locals could drop in after work, families could bring children to watch the riding, and international visitors returned year after year.<\/p>\n
The evening whip-off competition helped draw people to the event last night.<\/p>\n
Sparke said it was one of her \u201cfavourite\u201d events and the team was ensuring they had enough burger buns to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n
Crankworx runs until Sunday, with today and Friday designated as locals\u2019 days.<\/p>\n
Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gripping his bike with helmet and glasses on, Boden was keen to see plenty of tricks. \u201cHe absolutely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,432,28195,175941,175943,175940,5232,9517,1888,175945,5838,111,139,175946,69,1327,176,213,175944,2044,175942,16670,4741],"class_list":["post-326661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-action","tag-atmosphere","tag-banger","tag-boden","tag-crankworx","tag-create","tag-fans","tag-first","tag-geared","tag-help","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-ngongotah","tag-nz","tag-rotorua","tag-slopes","tag-sports","tag-thwaites","tag-time","tag-twoyearold","tag-watch","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326661","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=326661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}