Rick Edmonds wins 2021 Outdoor Access Champion Award

Marlborough resident Rick Edmonds will receive the Outdoor Access Champion Award in Havelock on 24 May 2021.

The award celebrates his significant contribution to public access in the outdoors in the Marlborough region.

Rick planned the largely volunteer-built 42km Link Pathway Te Ara Tuhono, which runs from Picton and Anakiwa to Havelock.

He encouraged the community to start this track back in 2005 when he was concerned about the safety of his children biking to school in Linkwater and the lack of safe walking space for people living in the bays around Queen Charlotte Drive.

As well as being a popular walkway for locals the Link Pathway is a highly regarded journey through the sounds for tourists, both walkers and mountain bikers.

Most recently, he led a team of volunteers (average age 72 years) to help build the Motuweka Pathway in Havelock. This is a link track that enables school children to get off the main road to walk safely to school.

The Motuweka Pathway is also a great place to view the incredible biodiversity and wildlife in the Kaituna estuary.

The awards are an annual event organised by the New Zealand Walking Access Commission Ara Hīkoi Aotearoa. The award celebrates people and community groups who are creating journeys across the land to our special places in Aotearoa.

IMAGE

Rick Edmonds (on left) Kaituna estuary bridge. Photo credit: Link Pathway Te Ara Tuhono