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Rotorua Deputy Mayor Dave Donaldson said forest ‘counters’ recorded a 50 per cent spike in visitors once New Zealand came out of Covid lockdown. In 2019, the International Mountain Biking Association named the trail network at Whakarewarewa as among the six best in the world, awarding a gold level accreditation as “the best of the best”. More importantly in the closed borders, Covid-19 climate of today, it’s proved a boon to a tourist town that now finds itself in competition with the rest of New Zealand for the domestic visitor dollar. The value of mountain biking was spelt out in a 2018 report commissioned by Rotorua Lakes Council, from Michael Connell & Associates, which found spending by both locals and visitors of between $29.2m and $47.4m per annum.
We start out this week’s episode in Bentonville, Arkansas. Yes, it’s the home of Wal-Mart and the Walton family. And, it’s recently been billed as the mountain bike capital of the world.
With events such as Big Sugar (which was originally the Dirty Kanza) and hundreds of miles of great trails that expand into other parts of the state from Bentonville, I wanted to know more about the City and what else it had to offer.
From a new airport that’s almost like a living museum to a downtown that acts like a trailhead to spread out onto the many paved and unpaved trails, Bentonville is a ride-365-days-a-year place. CEO and Director of Visit Bentonville, Kalene Griffith and the Aimee Ross, director of Bike Bentonville are over-the-moon excited about bicycling and what the city has to offer visitors.
After discovering his new skill over the holidays of being able to whistle songs using lollipops, Chris wanted to see if he could play a Fat Freddy's Drop
A new series of programmes commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland to celebrate the work of local artists, poets and musicians will be made available at the end of this month.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Democrats held on to two Virginia House seats in special elections held Tuesday.
Candi King narrowly defeated Republican Heather Mitchell in Virginia’s 2nd House District in northern Virginia, which was vacant after former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy resigned to focus on her run for governor.
Angelia Williams Graves easily beat GOP candidate Sylvia Bryant in the Norfolk-based 90th House District. That seat was previously held by former Del. Joe Lindsey, who stepped down to take a judgeship.
Both districts lean blue and Democratic lawmakers hailed Tuesday’s wins. But House Minority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert, a Republican, said King’s narrow margin of victory in the northern Virginia suburbs sent a message that voters are growing unhappy with the Democratic majority at the General Assembly.