What is WORD?
World Off-road Riding Department, a.k.a WORD, is Wellington’s favourite youth mountain biking organisation
W.O.R.D, short for World Off-road Riding Department, is a youth mountain bike charity (Charity Number CC50833) based in Aotearoa on a mission to help kids change their world one ride at a time. Founded by Ash Peters in 2013, WORD has over a decade of experience instructing and coaching 7-17 year olds in the Wellington Region. Mountain biking is used as a tool for growth and change and to help kids, whānau and communities connect.
In the 2025/26 season, WORD was out mountain biking with over 1000 kids across our programmes for the year! We have an excellent team of over 40 trained instructors and volunteer assistants.
WORD’s Mission
WORD believes we can change the world, one mountain bike ride at a time. We are committed to and passionate about creating opportunities for youth to build confidence, develop new friendships, and foster a life-long love of mountain biking and the outdoors. The WORD whānau believes in creating equity in order to reduce barriers to participation; embracing change through honesty and kindness; and building connections within our community and environment.
WORD Values
Our Values are WORD’s guiding compass- everything we do at WORD aims to deliver on these founding principles
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Youth Centered
Young people are at the heart of ALL decisions. For youth, with youth
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Adventure
We’re fun. We’ve got grit. We’re risk takers. We’re bravely kind
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Connection
Connection to self (confidence and being true to oneself). Connection to others (sense of belonging and being kind to others). Connection to the environment
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Inclusion
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Embracing change
We create access, support, and celebrate diversity + equity - always
We are agile in our thinking, and learn to adapt to the unknown, and share this approach collectively
A quick visual history of WORD
How WORD started…
This amazing organisation was started by Ashley Peters, WORD’s Founder, way back in 2013. Ash developed WORD to be a leader in the recreation space and was involved with developing a lot of the regulations and safety guidance we have around mountain biking, that we see today.
Ash’s vision, mahi and energy is so weaved through out WORD’s every fibre, you can’t help but get excited and motivated about what is next. WORD was so lucky to have her for 13 magical years, all the best in your new exciting adventures Ash!
2025 marked an end of an era with our amazing Founder and CEO Ash stepping down from her role after an incredible 13 years. Nic Johnson, previously the National Operations Manager, has stepped up into Ash’s shoes to fill the CE Role as of January 2026.
2026 has already been a HUGE year. We have a new van, a new programme funded by Sport NZ underway, new sponsors on board, and we are one of the first organisations in the country to adopt the integrity code.
Where is WORD heading? We’re focusing on growing our WORD whānau, offering more community-oriented events and rides, continuing to invest in our team and up-skill our instructors, and making Wellington and WORD the choice for youth to participate in mountain biking, leadership and bike packing programmes. We want to reach new areas where we can bring WORD to the people, but be based right here in Wellington. Think supercharged holiday programmes, workshops, and youth leadership.
And as always -no matter what’s next for WORD, we’ll be staying true to our values and ensuring we can keep changing the world, one ride at a time.
Whats next…
