Bike riders in the rain over the weekend caused damage to the Okotoks BMX Club track that will now take many additional hours of work to fix.

Okotoks BMX Club head coach Chris Nakamura says that's why the club is asking for the public's cooperation to keep off the track when wet and help prevent further damage.

"Essentially with the spring and all the wet weather, the way that somebody rides on it or walks on it, it creates a lot of rain ruts and accelerated erosion in spots that we need to fix," he says. "And it usually takes a long time to fix just one rut."

Nakamura says seeing the ruts left in the track was disheartening, especially since volunteers had spent many hours Saturday working to help get it in shape for the season.

"Our club is amazing, we have one of the best volunteer bases, in my opinion, around," Nakamura says. "Twenty-two volunteers showing up on their first work bee is almost unheard of so it really breaks our heart to see it kind of go to waste after a weekend like that."

Volunteers spent Saturday filling low spots, reconstructing one of the corners and reshaping the faces of jumps to ensure they are safe to use. Nakamura says repairing rain ruts is tedious work that will now involve additional hours of raking, shovelling and smoothing.

He says a good rule of thumb is that if the dirt on the track sticks to shoes, then it is too wet to use and people should keep off until it is dry.

"We're just trying to make it safe for everybody," Nakamura says. "We know that it is a public space and we'd like to keep it that way because the longer we can have it a public space, and as safe as we can, the more riders that we draw down and the more membership that we can draw.

"So it is beneficial to have it open, we don't want to close it off for just private club use and I know the Town doesn't want that either."

The Club is planning to set up gates along the track and close them during wet conditions to prevent access. He says just in case the gates are left open, they are asking for the public's cooperation to stay off the track. With wet weather in the forecast for most of this week, it's difficult to tell when the track will be dry enough to use again.

"It's always a gamble," Nakamura says. "It's an outdoor sport and unfortunately we're at the mercy of Mother Nature."

Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email us at news@okotoksonline.com