May 7, 2018
The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail played host to two events over the weekend which brought 300 tourists to the South Burnett, and a lot of extra business to Blackbutt.
The first was the Brisbane Valley Experience Bike Ride, organised by the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Users Association (BVRTUA), which saw 160 cyclists assemble at Moore Hall early Saturday morning to register for this year’s ride.
After paying their fees, the cyclists and their bicycles were transported to Yarraman by a small fleet of buses and trucks.
From there, they were free to spend the day pedalling a leisurely 49km course back down the Blackbutt Range to retrieve their cars, with an optional stop-off in Blackbutt for breakfast or morning tea.
BVRTUA president Paul Heymans said this year’s ride was carried out as part of Bike Week 2018.
“Judging by the feedback we had on social media, everyone enjoyed themselves,” he said.
“We’re pleased to report everything ran very smoothly with no major problems.”
Next year – when the final section of the BVRT between Moore and Toogoolawah is complete – the ride will be extended from Yarraman to Toogoolawah, a 75km course.
On Sunday, a completely different group of 140 athletes came to Blackbutt to take part in the annual R&R Rail Trail Duathlon, organised by Brisbane-based endurance event company G’onya Adventures.
Competitors had the choice of a 30km/30km running and cycling duathlon between Blackbutt and Moore; a 22km/22km running/cycling challenge between Blackbutt and Linville; a classic duathlon featuring a 4km run, followed by an 18km cycle ride and a final 1km run along the trail; and an 8km fun run between Blackbutt and Nukku.
All four races started and finished at the Blackbutt Showgrounds, where many contestants opted to spend the weekend.
A sizable group also went on to a celebratory dinner at the Bunyanut Cafe on Sunday night.
The duathlon, which started in 2014, was originally run on the October long weekend but was moved to May several years ago to avoid magpie swoops on contestants.
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The weekend also witnessed a new BVRT record when a solo runner became the first person to be officially recorded completing the entire 161km length of the trail.
Alyson Webster left Wulkuraka station at 6:00am on Saturday morning on arrived at Yarraman on Sunday afternoon, becoming the first runner officially recorded as completing the BVRT end-to-end in an unbroken run.
Alyson’s journey was tracked via satellite throughout, and she completed the 161km distance in 33 hours and 23 minutes.
“This is an amazing achievement,” Paul Heymans said.
“Unfortunately there was a problem with the satellite tracker – we didn’t get it going until Fernvale – but we also have her GPS record.
“She is the first person of either gender to run the entire length of the BVRT in one go.”
Great to see so many people using the trail and supporting local businesses.