Hüttcross round one 17th May

Our general recommendation is to stay off trails when it’s wet. Riding trails while they’re wet churns up the trail surface, making everything muddy and accelerating erosion. But there’s one type of riding where mud is not just the point but the spirit of the event - Cyclocross (CX).

It’s a short-form lap race (between 30 and 60 minutes), with a mixture of grassy fields, small hills, gravel, and occasionally beaches or river beds. It’s fast-paced, a proper challenge, but most importantly super fun.

And Wellington has one of the best CX series in New Zealand with (mostly) Hutt Valley-based Hüttcross. The 2026 Hüttcross season starts this weekend - we’ve got more details below.

Hüttcross is one of the largest cyclocross (CX) race series in the country, with A, B and C grades, plus Mightycross for the wee kids. It’s super fun, and B and C grades are both open to any type of bike (including mountain bikes). Although of course traction is cheating 😉

In it’s 16th year, the first round of the (5 round) 2026 series is Sunday the 17th at 9:30am (course opens for practice at 9am for C grade). It’s being held at California Park in Totora Park.

It’s super fun, great for maintaining a bit of winter fitness, very social (in all grades), and costs only $30 per race (or $100 for the season membership giving you entry to all 5 races). And for the first round, if you’ve never done a CX race before, and are wondering if it’s for you (CX-curious?), drop the Hüttcross team a message at

huttcross@gmail.com for a discount entry code.

More information and entries are available at the Hüttcross website.