The inaugural Tathra MTB Enduro will take place in March, 2011 and organisers of the event are hopeful it will place Tathra firmly on the radar of mountain-bikers both in Australia and across the world. The event is also hoping to raise awareness of the benefits of clean energy with funds raised at the event going to set-up renewable and sustainable energy projects for their local community.
MarathonMTB.com spoke to orgainsers Wilderness Coast and Snowy Mountains Bike Club (WCSMBC) and Clean Energy For Eternity (CEFE) about the event. Competitors will enjoy a full schedule of racing over the weekend of March 26-27, with a 10 kilometre ‘prologue’ on the Saturday followed by options of a 50 kilometre or 100 kilometre course on the Sunday.
“Mountain-bike riding around Tathra is amazing. There’s about 23 kilometres of singletrack which we are working to gain legal access to. We have permission from the Aboriginal Lands Council to use the main “Poo Ponds” loops (eight kilometres of trails) for the Tathra MTB Enduro,” explained Stacey George of WCSMBC. “Both these trails have evolved, and are used by walkers, runners and riders. They are all unofficially maintained by the local trail gnome network and we because they have been constructed sustainably we have had little problems with trail deterioration.”
George said the real draw of the Tathra enduro for mountain-bikers – particularly from surrounding regions – would be the opportunity to race on natural trails rather than the often sometimes restrictive nature of courses on private land.
“Some of the fire trails offer incredible views across the Bega Valley to the west and the coast to the east and they get so little use they are almost classed as single track. They also take you into secret pockets of bush and rainforest that most people are oblivious to, and with all the rain there are some great little creeks and waterholes,” she said.
“This part of the world is one of the few spots in Australia or NSW where you can ride with all these natural features and no pine trees.
“We’re hoping that riders will be prepared to travel that little extra distance for some cracker tracks. We are talking about tracks that touch the coast, the mountains and don’t feature one pine tree for 100 kilometres. The beauty is it’s also family friendly – with the beach right there.”
The Tathra MTB Enduro will be the club’s first foray into a mass-participation marathon. They will employ experience gleaned from conducting four hour events in recent years to the new project. So far, support from stakeholders has been encouraging.
“For the Tathra Enduro we have been given in principal support from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and State Forests to use these trails. It’s now up to us to show that we can ride these in a sustainable way,” continued George. “We ran a four hour Enduro at Manna Park in 2009, which was the club’s first real foray into racing.
“Club members Jake Iskov and Andy Johnson were instrumental in constructing the nine kilometres of singletrack in Manna Park, which can also link up to a further 13 kilometres of singletrack. The beauty of the area is that it has really good single track, its own accommodation (with a swimming pool) and big fields all around. All of the single track is in the bush and we don’t need to get permission from lots of stakeholders. It’s the perfect place to hold an extended race.
“Cycling based in Tathra is going form strength to strength. The main role of the club in its initial stages has been track advocacy – Working with stakeholders to create legal trails. It’s a real chicken or the egg situation.”
Although staunch trail advocates, WCSMBC do more that simply maintain the trails. For a small club they have a strong presence at races, with club member John Blankenstein recently securing second place in the 100 mile event at the Highland Fling.
“It’s not all about competition, but for a small club we punch above our weight in competition,” George said. “At the recent Highland Fling we had four competitors race .
We came away with two second placings, a third and an eighth placing – the best being John Blankenstein who was second in the men’s 160 kilometre race. John also won his age group in the solo 24 hour world championships, and was fifth overall.”
Giving back
Although the racing action will be the major drawcard for visitors to Tathra next March, the event will carry with it a very strong and important message about the importance of sustainable clean energy sources. The event is backed by Clean Energy For Eternity, a not-for-profit organisation set-up by local Matt Nott, who himself is a keen mountain-biker.
Nott proposed the event as a good opportunity to spread the CEFE’s 50/50 by 2020 campaign and raise funds for installation of renewable energy sources at local community organisations.
“50/50 by 2020 is a 50 per cent reduction in the consumption of energy, and a 50 per cent production of energy from renewable sources, by the year 2020,” explained Nott. “It’s a target that has been adopted by 5 shires in South Eastern New South Wales (Bega, Eurobodalla, Bombala, Cooma-Monara, and Snowy River) and our Federal Member, Mike Kelly, has adopted the target for the entire electorate of Eden-Monaro.
“Many would say that the target is a bit of a pipe dream The Tathra Enduro will get Tathra to a 50/50 by 2020 target. It is a very achievable target, has widespread local support, and will put Tathra into a leadership position on climate change. 50/50 by 2020 is an achievable target for the Eden-Monaro electorate. We have one of Australia’s largest wind farms about to be constructed, which will make two of our shires net exporters of energy. A wave farm is due to be built in Eden soon. Country Energy plan to build a solar farm in the Bega Valley in the near future. This region also has one of the highest rates of home ownership of solar panels in the country.”
Living so close to the coast, Nott had received welcome support for the message from Tathra’s local Live Saving community, but admitted his passion for and knowledge of mountain-biking had made the latter another logical fit for CEFE’s objectives.
“I’ve been working hard to raise awareness about climate change since 2006. Clean Energy For Eternity’s priority is to look at encouraging community uptake of renewable energy. We have managed to raise enough money over four years to set up seven surf clubs with wind turbines and solar panels. We have raised money to get six rural fire stations set up with solar panels. Surf clubs and the rural Fire Service are part of our campaign called ‘LifeSaving Energy’,” he said.
“I have always been pretty interested in endurance events. The money we have made so far has come from our LifeSaving Energy Big Swim series, a series of distance swims, which will certainly continue. The problem with endurance swims is that generally about 30 or 40 competitors turn up. Hence the idea of the Tathra Enduro. I was inspired by the success of races such as the Angry Doctor, Highland Fling etc and felt that Tathra had all the ingredients to host a major event.”
While WCSMBC and CEFE are both hopeful of success, only time will tell as to whether the event itself will be sustainable. Nott, for one, is optimistic.
“All the money we make will be going towards community renewable projects. First up, a wind turbine for the Tathra surf club, solar panels for the Uniting Church in Tathra, and solar panels for the local Aboriginal Lands Council office. Within a few years we should be able to get all community buildings in Tathra set up with renewables, then we start looking into a solar farm for the town.
“If the race can generate enough money, we will look at a community owned wind farm down the track. The race will also give us an opportunity to build and maintain and extend local singletrack, and to promote cycling in general. Every cent we make will be going back into the Tathra community, which is allowing us to tap into a huge amount of support from the town of Tathra.
“I am quite confident that we can build the Tathra Enduro into a large annual event.”
For more information about the Tathra MTB Enduro visit here.