Mountain bikers will come from far and wide this long weekend as Mount Gambier once again hosts round two of the Reserve Gravity Enduro South Australia Series.
The race returns to the Valley Lakes precinct with the addition of a new track, following the success of last year’s event.
The weekend race is a part of a five round series that takes place throughout the year.
Riders from last year’s event should be familiar with the track as they will be competing on the same ones from last year with a new track being added to the event.
Blue Gums trail, located near the cemetery, will be a part of this year’s event making its first return to a competitive competition since the Crater Lakes fire.
Event organiser and rider Shane de Jong is excited the trail is back in use for the competition.
“It’s exciting to bring that track back to life since the fires, it has not had much use or love since then,” he said.
“Not many people ride it so our idea is to get some tires down it and bring it back to life.”
Event organisers predict around 15 to 20 local riders taking on the track this weekend with an overall total of 180 riders competing.
Most of the travelling riders will come from Adelaide with the addition of several Victoria riders from places like Ballarat and Melbourne.
Given the number of Adelaide riders making the journey down to Mount Gambier, de Jong believes its good for the region to attract more visitors.
“The number coming from that direction has been getting bigger and bigger with more people that are hearing about how good our trails are down here,” he said.
“And for them it’s a lot different and it’s a five hour drive so it’s worth the drive on a long weekend.”
de Jong believes the weather the region has had lately will have a positive impact on the track condition.
“Overall it’s been very positive having the rain,” he said.
“We need rain in every aspect for the region but for the event, more rain the better to deal with the extra traffic and to recover from the long summer we had.”
de Jong said he was grateful for the support the event receives from the Mount Gambier City Council and would love to host mountain biking events on a more regular basis in town.
“Overall with the council having the event again, we just really want to continue pushing mountain bike riding as a whole,” he said.
“I guess our overall goal is to try and get people here every weekend, not just for the event.
“We really want to push the council to get more signage and stuff for the trail so everyone knows what’s going on and to get a bit more of a tourism push with a promotional push and trying to get people here to enjoy the region.”
There will be racing on both Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday being the main racing day.
