Brendan Smyth all Barred up about mountainbike championships

A facility such as this one that encourages people to get out an exercise can’t be a bad thing, IMHO.

I don’t know about “sprung up overnight” – they have been running those volunteer working bees at Stromlo for ages.

Canberra won the 2009 world mountain biking championships because of campaigning from people like CORC, not by fluke.

I don’t know why there is all this bitching and moaning over a great facility with a lot of community support behind it (all those volunteers who donated their time didn’t appear from thin air). It’s good for Canberra and it’s great that we’re going to be known for something other than parliament house.

The Government did it. Therefore the opposition opposes. Doesn’t matter whether its good or bad.
At least that’s how a stupid opposition operates.

Poor old Mr Smyth just doesn’t understand that MTB is a participation sport. It’s not about the bikes or winning, it’s about going for a ride and having fun with your mates. Also, the 7.5 million dollars was not all spent on the MTB trails!!! A lot of the money was spent cleaning the area up – as Stromlo is a Pine Forest, when it gets burnt it doesn’t regenerate. So you’re left with a whole bunch of useless stumps and trunks. The area also caters to horse riders with equestrian trails; road cyclists with the criterium circuit; Cross Country runners with a running track.

If you pick up any Australian MTB mag (just have a sneek when you’re next at the News Agency) you’ll find something about the Nationals that were just held and something if not a feature on Mt Stromlo. It’s been on the tip of the nation’s MTB community’s tounge for the last 6 months. Unlike the V8’s the Park is always there. Unlike the V8’s there are hundreds of thousands of people who can use the facility instead of a coming once a year to spectate. Other MTB parks in the USA, NZ and here in Vic/Tas have shown that they do attract tourists year round. Hence, the MTB park was not built with the sole goal of winning the nationals or winning the UCI world cup. In addition to replacing what existed pre-2001 and 2003 fires it only adds to Canberra’s other riding areas to make the ACT, the ‘must ride’ destination in Australia. When people come here, they’ll want to stay at least a night (there’s Stromlo, Majura, Sparrow Hill, Tuggeranong Pines and Kown Forest to ride). Hence, the MTB park component of the Stromlo Park will attract tourist dollars year round. With the nationals and the World’s now in Canberra, this will only help the park’s popularity.

I used be a Cancon Fan before Warhammer and Magic swept into view; but I stand corrected.

Other than the Sacred Floriade, events in Canberra a boys and things with wheels or boys indulging in various forms of imaginary war and mayhem, while living on fizzy drinks, chocolate and chips.

But the POINT is: Cancon doesn’t get it’s own special Government-funded world-class facility either. Ditto paintball facilities.

Cancon also has to pay it’s own way – I’ve been at the end of a blast from the president (on account of it being cancon he’s actually termed the el-presidente). Apparently, they actually put a lot into the event and it turns quite a flow of cash, although the roleplayers tend to ruin the event because their activities are not very good time/cash models, and they are a bunch of whingers, all crying for individually cordonned off sections to ensure privacy or something.

*** DISCLAIMER ***

I worked with him, I’m not a Cancon Fan myself.

Cancon generates excellent sales for soft drink manufacturers and cadbury, I know that for a fact.

Hey, Cancon doesn’t have wheeled things!

The UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships, held recently in Rotorua, had an economic impact of $33.5 million.

Studies undertaken by Market Economics and Waiariki Institute of Technology show that the Championships generated $12.2m in direct new spend in Rotorua that would not have occurred otherwise. At a national level an additional $17.7m was attributed to the UCI MTB World Champs. Once the flow on effects are assessed total value added increases to $12.4m within the region while the contribution to GDP rises to $21.1m nationally.

The Waiariki Institute study estimated that visitors to the World Championships spent $2,712,533 per day in Rotorua and this did not include the spend by the competitors and those directly involved in the event.

Sounds OK to me

some AIS boys will be quite happy with the champs being here.

Looks like all the major tourists events for Canberra (other than the Sacred Floriade) are boys with wheeled things. How is it the government can pop up a bike thingie overnight and get the world racing in to use it, but can’t sort out a [ahe] world class facility for drag racing, SummerNats or V8s?

It is a puzzlement.

When Brendan was in government, what was that V8 Supercar thingy they were spruiking????? All sounds a bit hypocritical.

(I did support the V8s here, and we should’ve kept it in my opinion, but changed it to a later date where the climate was more favourable)