Atherton Forest Mountain Bike Park on the trail of success

Published Tuesday, 22 July, 2014 at 04:15 PM

Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing
The Honourable Steve Dickson

North Queensland is fast becoming a mecca for mountain bikers with 40km of trail now built at the Atherton Forest Mountain Bike Park and another 20km to come.

The Queensland Government is providing $750,000 and the Federal Government is providing $500,000 for the construction of 60km of single trail at the park.

The park hosted the fourth round of Cycling Australia’s Cross Country Marathon earlier this year in the lead-up to the World Cup event in Cairns and National Parks Minister Steve Dickson said the trail’s expansion would attract even more riders. 

“Mountain biking is booming internationally and the spectacular 40km network has already attracted national events and tourists from across Australia and abroad,” Mr Dickson said.

“Local businesses are already seeing benefits, which will continue to grow as visitors choose to stay overnight to experience the full extent of this trail and visit nearby mountain biking sites such as Smithfield, Davies Creek and the Misty Mountains,” he said.

“It’s great to see the region attracting new fans as we build  infrastructure to grow tourism and create jobs, while also encouraging Queensland families to get outdoors and get active.”

Dirt Art director Simon French, whose company designs and builds trails nation-wide, oversaw the 11km of recently constructed trail in the Atherton Forest network and said the project was the company’s first trail to traverse so many types of forest.

“The epic ride is being dubbed ‘stairway to heaven’ by locals due to its many climbing switchbacks and wide sweeping views,” Mr French said.

“It takes riders from open forest, across some spectacular granite ridges, over the Great Diving Range, through gnarly basalt and rainforest country and back out into eucalypt forest.

“Our people have worked over six months through tough conditions, including periods of hot humid conditions, even pending lightning storms and a tropical cyclone.  The final product will be a challenging but memorable ride and a great addition to the park,” he said.

A contract for up to 20km of additional trail has been awarded to World Trail.

World Trail Director Glen Jacobs said it had been immensely rewarding to be part of the project.

“From early concept design through to actual trail building, this project has been tremendously exciting,” Mr Jacobs said.

“We have been heartened by the way communities have ‘plugged in’ to the Atherton Forest Mountain Bike Park project.  It will be a huge win for the community,” he said.

Check park alerts before visiting a national park or State forest, at www.nprsr.qld.gov.au

ENDS

Editors:

The trail map http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/herberton-range/pdf/mountain-bike-map.pdf has now been updated to show the recently added trail built by ‘Dirt Art’ (labelled as trail 12).

Location map is at http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/herberton-range/pdf/herberton-range-map.pdf