Stromlo Re-Opens with Mountain Bike Nationals

the website for Stromlo Forest Park has been updated

And a piece of shite it is too. I can’t read half the text on my CRT monitor. It was clearly designed with LCD’s in mind.

Who the hell decided dark-grey text on a black background was a good idea?

The dragway couldn’t run under current noise regulations. They actually tried to rewrite the noise laws to make it possible for it to run, but found it would still be too noisy.
Noone has anything against dragway supporters, and I’m sure Stanhope would actually prefer to have built the dragway. But too noisy is just too noisy.

BTW – the website for Stromlo Forest Park has been updated with the latest trail and facilities map.

As a volunteer who contributed about 40 hours of hard labour to building the new mountain bike trails, I’m just happy to see mountain biking back at Stromlo on world class trails – and the continuing support of the ACT Govt.

I was surprised how the vast volunteer effort got so little billing in the media release.

It’s also worth noting that corc – the canberra mountain biking club – have run volunteer working bees every weekend for months and months to build the trails. There is definitely a lot of support behind this thing and lots of people have put in their own time and effort for free to get it built.

I wonder if they would hold the *world* dragway championships in Canberra? They’re seriously considering it for MTB. They had them in Rotorua last year: http://www.2006rotoruamtb.com/english/index.php
“What an amazing week it was with around 40,000 spectators in through the gates over six wonderful days.”
“The impact of such a successful event will be felt in Rotorua for years to come”

I think Stanhope has rewritten the noise laws after caving to inner-north complaints about the noise they (may) suffer. I guess Drag enthusists are unlucky their sport is so noisy. Perhaps they might be successful with a dragway bid when all the dragsters are electric? 🙂

The motor enthusiast community does well with Summernats (and it gets funding since it does it’s bit for tourism) – I guess the govt is trying to identify other tourist events that are good for the city.

Let’s face it – we don’t have a coastline so a lot of the touristy things that go with that are out, but we do have a lot of mountains with nothing built on them (due to our planning laws). Perhaps this unique feature compared to other cities could make us known for Mountain Biking.

Majura,

Thanks for the reply. Between yourself and Sammy the totally diferent treatment delivered by Stanhope to yourselves (and probably deserved) in comparison to that delivered to tne Drag racing community is notable.

Stanhope promised a Drag strip for the same sort of money he has expended on your facility. He has rewritten the noise laws to stop the dragway in its tracks. May you enjoy your Stanhope approved facility.

In addition to Majura’s comments – when the ACT Govt was in the stages of planning the rebuilding of Stromlo they asked for sumbissions from all Canberrans for proposals for the new stromlo. CORC was one of the few (and more convincing and well put together) submissions, and thus we have MTB trails at Stromlo again. Also I believe Pedal Power was behind the submissions which saw the road cycling and criterion tracks built which are also world class.

Not only does the building of world class mountain bike trails in Canberra equal more tourist dollars for the ACT, it also brings new people to live in the ACT. I know of one family whose move from Sydney to Canberra was heavily influenced by the quality and quanity of mountain biking in the ACT.

‘cranky’… The park isn’t just for MTB’s but also for road criterium racing and cross country runners (amongst other outdoor pursuits). However, the majority of the money for the park caters heavily to MTB. Pre-2001 and 2003 fires Stromlo was the epicentre of MTB in Canberra (in which CORC is Australia’s largest club) and after the fires a lot of pressure has been placed on the other trails.

Canberra also plays host to the world’s largest 24 hour race which attracts thousands. Also, CORC has secured the next 3 MTB Nationals and is on the way to getting the 2009 World MTB Champs. Include the Brindabella Challenge around December. Not to mention Canberra being renowned for being a great place to ride… to Stanhope this all translates to tourist dollars which is only good for the Canberra economy.