May 20, 2024
The South Burnett’s latest tourist attraction was formally opened on Saturday morning at the Gordonbrook Dam recreation area.
The Gordonbrook Dam Mountain Bike Trails is the culmination of a five-year project by the volunteers from the South Burnett Mountain Bike Club.
The club applied to lease an area of land beside the dam from the South Burnett Regional Council after plans to expand its trails in the forestry areas near Wondai were thwarted by legal red tape.
Then the fundraising – and grant writing – began.
Club secretary Jason Wyeth said the club’s main grant came from the Queensland Department of Sport’s Minor Infrastructure program.
The $206,359 the club received from this program would not have been possible without a $50,000 co-payment from the South Burnett Regional Council.
“Council has been super supportive,” Jason said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
As well as the cash injection, Council provided in-kind support including the supply of deco.
The club also sourced $35,000 from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund, $25,000 from the Tarong Community Partnership Fund and $50,000 from the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal.
The result is nine trails, totalling 14km in length, ranging in skill level from “green” for beginners to “black” (cross country Olympic standard) for advanced riders.
Professional mountain bike trail builders Trailworx did the designs.
The trails have been slowly put into use over the past five years, starting with 3km, then 7km before finally reaching the 14km mark last November.
Since then, a counter has recorded just shy of 1100 users passing by.
The official opening was delayed until the final signage was installed to mark out the trails, which was only completed recently.
South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff performed the opening, but her traditional pink ribbon was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Mayor Duff was asked to twist a key on a broken length of bike chain until it snapped …
About 15 riders gathered on Saturday morning to watch the opening and attend a clinic ahead of Round 1 of the Wild West XCO Winter Series which was raced on Sunday.
On October 5-6, about 150 riders are expected to converge on the trails for the 2024 AusCycling Cross Country Queensland State Championships.
Jason said the club still had more plans to develop the area, including the construction of a skills park next to the trail.
A funding application to make this a reality has already been submitted.
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Fantastic!