Page 3478 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 17 September 2019
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but those beginner trails enable it to be a family venue rather than just for the hard core mountain bikers. As we see more families and more females taking up mountain biking, having that gradation of tracks is a really important opportunity.
As I touched on, Stromlo would also benefit from additional infrastructure, essentially the initiatives proposed in the Stromlo Forest Park master plan such as accommodation, a new internal road circuit and similar things. This additional infrastructure would be a catalyst for new activities, events and tourism as well as benefiting our local community. New infrastructure will help Stromlo Forest Park attain a village atmosphere like ski resorts or bigger mountain bike parks in other countries. Anyone who goes up to Thredbo in the summer where mountain biking is very popular these days, as well as mountain running and the like, will appreciate what I am describing in terms of that village atmosphere. That sort of environment amplifies its attractiveness.
Renewed investment will help Canberra and Stromlo Forest Park regain its place as the country’s premier destination for cycle tourism, especially mountain biking. In recent years other places have made substantial and material investment in their mountain bike trail infrastructure that has in some respects moved them ahead of Canberra when it comes to being the desirable place to go for mountain biking. It is a tremendous tourism activity for a city like ours, but places like Derby in Tasmania, Jindabyne, Thredbo and others have started to make these investments. For not a lot of money you can have a significant impact, and we certainly need to make sure that we keep Stromlo Forest Park as one of the pre-eminent destinations in Australia.
The building of a pool at Stromlo certainly opens up opportunities for a range of other activities, both swimming related and also multisport events such as triathlon, with which I have a history. That would allow events to take place entirely within the park, which for people who are nervous about cycling on open roads would be very attractive.
Accommodation at the site opens up a range of opportunities for increased tourism as tourists would be able to stay on the park. Additional infrastructure will lead to new community-led activities. That has certainly been demonstrated by the recent opening of the Handlebar and pump track at Stromlo. It is noticeably busier as a result of these activities, and that activity is centred around Handlebar. People are now organising social rides essentially to then eat or drink at the bar. Similarly, other events are making use of the Handlebar and pump track, such as the pump track challenge events. These are new activities spurred by the opening of new, relatively modest facilities that have clearly been embraced and welcomed by our community.
Improvements to Stromlo Forest Park should coincide with a renewed effort to attract major cycling events to Canberra. Previously, we have hosted prestigious world cup mountain biking events and could potentially host more in the future or we could host alternative cycling events such as the Sea Otter Classic.
I will reflect on a comment Miss Burch made in her brief remarks about public transport. Right now it is not possible to get directly to Stromlo Forest Park by public transport. With a lot of young people attracted to the facility, it is appropriate to have
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