Local MTB riders got a huge boost this week with a $10,000 grant from the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club awarded to the Batemans Bay MTB Club (BBMTB) for the purchase of a range of essential equipment.
When BBMTB got the news about the grant being awarded the Club President Jamie Clout said “This is a game changer for us. The grant more than doubles our financial resources and lets us start to invest in plant and equipment with a high degree of certainty over our sustainability. As a club we hope to make a huge positive impact in our community as local MTB trails grow and this will make an amazing difference to our starting point.”
BBMTB was created in late 2022. The grant from the Soldiers Club, along with other fund sources, will go towards acquisition of the equipment for the new club's riding events and trail support activities, such as shelter and signage, tables, chairs, trailside poles and bunting, a generator, assorted trail tools, and a trailer for transporting equipment to event sites.
The equipment is essential for events and activities that are attractive to the parts of the local community such as women and children who are becoming interested in MTB riding with the Eurobodalla Shire Council's project to build 150km of trails getting underway.
Jamie Clout said “The Council’s Mogo trails project will put a nationally significant recreational asset right in our back yard.
There are six teams of trail builders working in the forest near Mogo, with around 5-6km of new trail already completed.
Once built the new trails must be left alone for several months to harden or they won’t carry the future traffic loads without degrading and needing constant maintenance. Progress in building gravel trails in forests depends heavily on environmental factors like weather, terrain and soil/rock conditions. All going well there could be some new trails open later in the year.”
BBMTB was established by local riders late last year to create channels for the local community to make the most of this unique recreational and social facility. The grant from the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club will provide BBMTB with the basic package of equipment it needs to provide MTB riding events including social rides for juniors and women, and trail support and races.
"None of this would be possible without support from organisations like the Bay Soldiers Club", Jamie Clout said
BBMTB already has 75 members, and holds social rides every few weeks, including rides for women and girls. For more information on BBMTB go to www.bbmtb.au, or follow them on facebook at www.facebook.com/bbmtbofficial or on Instagram at bbmtbofficial.
Above: Matt Edwards, Operations Manager of the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club, with Jamie Clout, President of the Batemans Bay MTB Club. Pic credit BBMTB Club.
