Mid Canterbury Mountain Bike Race Breaks New Ground

The Mayfield Lions Club, organisers of the extremely successful Mt Somers Classic Mountain Bike Race, are the first mountain bike race promoters in the country to use Customer Experience Tracker, a new event improvement resource, developed by two Christchurch business advisors Ray Sleeman & Chris Bell.

Using a new international survey methodology, the club was able to capture valuable feedback from 68 percent of the 640 competitors. The respondents gave the event an extremely high recommendation score of 70 percent as well as providing comments that have allowed race organisers to start working on improvements for next year’s event.

Strong support for the race has enabled the Mayfield Lions to distribute $81,000 to Christchurch and Mid Canterbury organisations over the five years the race has been run. The Customer Experience Tracker has motivated the club to build on that support and to look at ways of ensuring an even better day out for all competitors and supporters. Details will be announced later in the year.

Survey results have also shown strong support from Christchurch riders keen to take the opportunity to ride over Mt Somers Station, an iconic Mid Canterbury property. The three course concept has been strongly supported by families and first time riders while still delivering a challenge for the more experienced riders.

Customer Experience Tracker has not only shown a high participant score and delivered valuable comments but has also provided vital demographics that will assist with more effective marketing and sponsorship opportunities.

One of the highlights of the race is the lunch provided, as part of the entry fee, to all riders. From comments received this is an added incentive to pick up the pace on the ride to avoid being too far back in the queue.

Organisers are looking forward to all competitors returning for next years race and wish to remind them that their participation results in greater support to the community.

The club is only too aware of the number of events that are now available to competitors throughout the year, hence the focus on continual development and innovation. A good lesson for all event organisers.

Customer Experience Tracker – Improving Performance through Customer Feedback