Hay Hay (Fringe Downhill) – Grade 4

Posted on November 29, 2011

Hay hays is one of the newer downhill trails in Nelson with over 600m vertical drop it’s one of the longer down hill tracks in New Zealand. When it was raced in the 2011 NZ Cup the winning times were just under 5 mins. It offers a bit of everything, with very fast sections, technical chutes all littered with rocks and roots.

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The track starts by winding through native bush with a couple of G-outs and rocky sections. About a minute in you should find yourself confronted with one of the steeper parts of the trail a chute that turns sharply to the left at the bottom. After rolling out of the chute you cross a fire road and start another section in native bush which doesn’t last too long before crossing over a ridge and sending you off a nice step down into a long off camber section with lots of roots. You should see a large track cutting across the trail along with a picnic table on your right. You are now crossing the Dun Mountain Railway. At the time of writing the next section of the trail was closed for maintenance so you will need to take the fire break that heads straight down from the picnic table. This curves gently to the left crosses a track and then turns sharply to the right. At this sharp right hand corner you can rejoin the track which will be on your left. This next section of the track is the steepest and most technical with some great lines to take. When you pop out at a paddock you have reached the bottom of the trail, follow the farm track out to Brook Street.