About Us

Hi my name is Maria Cleland, I am married to Graeme and we have two children Rebecca aged 11 and Jeremy aged 10.   I have lived here in Glenmassey for the last 15 years.   I was born in England and came to New Zealand 23 years ago to find the most beautiful country I had ever seen and then was blessed to settle in one of these places.

Graeme has lived here all his life and enjoys the great outdoors farming this sheep and beef farm.   He used to love down hill bike racing before it was invented, but then discovered when you put an engine on it you didn’t have to push it to the top of the hill again!!!!   Seeing the technology of the bikes available now he may have to revisit his push biking days.

Over the past eleven years we have had many friends come and mountain bike on our farm and enjoy the special place we live.    We have always wanted to share with others our beautiful spot but due to our farming operation this has made it difficult. 

We believe we have found a way to achieve this by creating the Black Stump Adventure Ride.   Our goal is to create an annual event that will cause minimal disturbance to the farming operation.  

This years event will be our fifth, each one has been very special, enjoyable and a great success.  Thank you to all the riders that given us such positive feedback and some areas that we can improve on for next year.  Our goal was to create an enjoyable, achievable ride for all fitness and skill levels.  We believe we achieved this, but due to the weather conditions on the day it was probably more challenging for some than it would of been in finer weather.   Other feedback we had was very positive towards the mud, and helped to create a very special day!

In 2010 we are adding a mountain run event the day after Black Stump.  This has been exciting organising this new event and seeing it all come together.

Again this coming year we have obtained some great spot prizes from this years sponsors and some new ones. 

We are thoroughly enjoying organizing this event and meeting new people.  To ensure a smooth running of the event and to guarantee your entry, please send your entries as soon as possible.  Your feedback is really appreciated as we continue to make improvements each year!

Look forward to meeting you all on the 13th February 2010 – Come and see what lies beyond the black stump!

Regards

Maria, Graeme, Rebecca & Jeremy Cleland