Auckland rugby academy cuts a track

MANY HANDS: The rugby academy boys pictured at the Brynderwyn trig.

Members of the Auckland high performance rugby academy took time out from their end-of-year training retreat to contribute to walking track development for the Mangawhai community. 

The group of 28 each grabbed a spade and headed up the new Tanekaha Forest Track to the Brynderwyn ridge to cut over 250 steps on the steep slippery clay slopes of the Brynderwyn Walkway.

Overgrown by gorse in places and with steep sections too slippery to walk when wet, the track has fallen into disrepair.

The Mangawhia Tracks Charitable Trust aims to extend the Tanekaha Track by including a western section of the Brynderwyn Walkway. 

Academy supervisors were Ant Strachan and Ben Meyer. 

“It was a pleasure to spend an afternoon with such an enthusiastic and willing team even if it did make me feel like a dinosaur,” said Trust Chair Gordon Hosking. “So a big thank you boys, from the Tracks Trust and the Mangawhai community.”