Sun shine and all smiles at kids MTB
17 February 2014
Sixty seven kids aged 3 to 12 where thrilled to be riding their mountain bikes on a new course behind Albury TAFE yesterday under sunny skies. With plenty of rain on Saturday, there was no dust to hide the smiles of the kids or the parents watching round one of the Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers Monumental Ice Creamery Kids MTB Series.
“It’s exciting to see the future of the club riding around,” Club President, Scott Hanckel said.
“It’s an age group that doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to ride in events, so mountain biking is a great option here in Albury,” Scott said.
“It’s great to get the kids off the road and back on the dirt. We have come up to the bush before but after a few busters they didn’t want to come back. But an event like this, which focuses on participation is a great way to get them back riding in the bush,” said a parent of one the competitors.
Organiser Dylan Clift was pleased to see Steven Onley, Michelle Clancy and Peter Inskip from Albury City attend to promote the sustainable use of the trails on Nail Cann.
“Sustainable use of the bush for recreation is a key message for the club,” Dylan stated.
“We encourage members from this early age to adopt sustainable behaviour, such as only riding on marked trails, and not creating new trails.
“Being a primary school teacher, I know we have to start early in a child’s life creating the positive attitudes towards sustainability.”
Marcus Richardson was relieved to see the event go smoothly. “There is a lot of work that goes into an event like this, from the financial contribution of the club, which was over $1000 to subsidise entry, to all the volunteers’ time meeting with Crown Land and Albury City to make sure we are hosting this event in the correct location,” Marcus said.
“It’s a real pleasure see it come together and get a great number of kids here. We have put together a great package this year, building on the success of last year’s inaugural series.
“We released a poster promoting the event and placed it in all the local schools associated with PSSA sport, as well as other areas, such as the Albury Pool, which has really elevated public awareness of the series.
“With Monumental Ice Creamery on board as a sponsor, we can offer all the kids an enticing reward for participating.
“We hope to see all these kids back and more when we host Round 2 on Sunday 16 March at 10.00am.”
For more information visit http://www.alburywodongamtb.org.au/
