Most people know Emma Cooper as a competitor and a Rotorua local.

She's the one standing on the start line, chasing her own finish line and appreciating every cheer from the sidelines. Last year, though, she saw Whaka100 from a completely different perspective. Instead of pinning on a race number, she put on a Holland Beckett​ volunteer vest. "This was actually my first time volunteering," Emma says.

When Helene Nicholson first took over as Event Manager for Whaka100 four years ago, she wasn't a mountain biker.
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She'd organised events before, but stepping into one of New Zealand's largest mountain bike events was something completely different.

When you've spent years photographing mountain bike events around the world, it takes something special to stand out.

For photographer Clint Trahan, that something is Rotorua.

"I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Whakarewarewa Forest first," says Trahan. "The trees, the fern, the greenery, the energy. It is a magical place to be."
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Trahan has photographed mountain bike events across the globe, but Rotorua remains the benchmark he compares everything else to.