A group of Vancouver Island boys built their own mountain bike track on a patch of unused land in their Colwood neighbourhood only to see torn down by local officials.
They spent six months carefully planning the course before packing it and shaping it.
“We’d all work together after school and on nice days,” Myles Moshuk, one of the designers, said.
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“That’s our passion, we just love doing it,” Parker Gale said.
“And it’s fun to change things up,” Moshuk added.
That is, until the Capital Regional District (CRD) stepped in. Crews taped off the area late last month tearing down everything the boys had built.
“It was devastating for these boys,” mother Cora Ringheim said.
In a statement, a district spokesperson said:
“CRD regional parks dismantled the illegal trails within the trail corridor and placed debris across to prevent people from re-building them.
“The CRD asks all park and trail users to stay on designated trails. Unauthorized trail building and use damages the environment and can create safety hazards for visitors.”
Parents insist they were careful to oversee every step of the building process to ensure no harm was done.
They’ve reached out to the CRD in the hopes of a finding a resolution and are awaiting a response.
“All we’re asking for is a solution, a solution to where can these kids go?” Ringheim said.
“These boys just want to be boys.”
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