June 2, 2016
A tent city sprang up in a paddock just west of Kingaroy last weekend to house the hundreds – and hundreds – of trail bike riders who came to town for the annual Lions Charity Trail Bike Ride.
There was a record number of registrations, more than last year and more than double the number when southburnett.com.au first covered this event in 2012.
The Kingaroy Lions shifted the event to a new track this year, and the move seems to have paid off.
The paddocks and creek beds provided different challenges for the riders, and were much more convenient to town … just 10 minutes out of Kingaroy.
This meant that the many campers on site could just nip into town to get supplies, and Lions Club members didn’t face a 45-minute trip if they needed to re-stock any items in the lunch tent.
Three tracks were marked out for riders: a 45km Open track, a shorter Novice track and a short course for Pee Wee riders.
The Open track was described as “very tight” , “challenging” and “very technical” by riders.
Riders came from all over Queensland for the weekend but especially from Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Ipswich.
A licensed bar was operating in the camping ground area and a mechanical bull provided entertainment at night.
Julie Clifford, from the Kingaroy Lions Club, said there was a small band of volunteers – who were not actually Lions Club members – who were key to making the weekend a success.
“We can’t do this without them,” she said.
“They are a very dedicated little group who have been out here every weekend for the past six months marking all the tracks out.”
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