Page 35 - Tropic Magazine Issue 37

TROPIC • COVER STORY

Strong foundation

Whether it’s adrenalin-inducing downhill, a cross country jaunt
through the rainforest or a pleasant pedal along the foreshore,
Cairns and Far North Queensland is designed to ride.

MOUNTAIN BIKING OFF-ROAD CYCLING
There are 700 kilometres of easily More than 450 kilometres of off-road
accessible tracks across the region, paths wind through Cairns city, foreshore
including MTB parks at Davies Creek, and the suburbs. Once current projects
Atherton and Mission Beach. Smithfield’s are complete, you’ll be able to ride from
park is the jewel in the crown, being the Palm Cove to Gordonvale.
highest-profile rainforest trail system in
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the world. Plenty more forest trails add to In the making
the adventure, such as the iconic Bump • The $7.3 million Northern Beaches
Track and Kuranda Downhill. Leisure Trail will eventually link Cairns
city to Palm Cove.
In the making • The Cairns Southern Access Cycleway
• The 94-kilometre Wangetti Trail will will be a 20-kilometre pathway from
join Palm Cove and Port Douglas. Portsmith to Gordonvale.
• A new pump track is the first stage of
the Cardwell Tropical Mountain Bike BMX
Trail Project, with 96 kilometres of There are 15 BMX tracks between
1 trails planned. Gordonvale and Clifton Beach.
• An expansion of the Smithfield
Mountain Bike Park is in the
planning stage.

GLOBAL SALES OF MOUNTAIN BIKES p33. Credit: Tour of the Tropics
1. Credit: TriMotivate
2020 | $44.2 million 2027 | Projection of $78.5 million 2. Credit: World Trail
3. Credit: Reef to Reef
Source: Global Industry Analysts Inc.
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Agent of the Smithfield MTB Park, the Sydney
Olympics course and many other
adventure parks globally.
He’s also the brainchild of the Wangetti
Trail. “They’re just beautiful things that
World-renowned Cairns trail flow through the forest, only about
designer Glen Jacobs is proving a metre wide,” Glen said. “If they’re
that if you build it, they will designed and constructed right they’re
really sustainable and get people into
come. the environment, appreciating and
championing it.”
Words: Renee Cluff
Today, World Trail builds parks that are
Glen Jacobs is a godfather in mountain destinations in their own right, such as
biking circles. The first and only the Blue Derby park in Tasmania, which
Australian to be inducted into the MTB attracts 100,000 people yearly.
Hall of Fame, his first foray into trail “Derby was a former mining town, a “People will then come in their droves,
building was in 1990 on the Kuranda low socio-economic area, the houses just like going to a ski resort,” he said.
Downhill, which was the old road to were only worth about $100,000 and “People want mountain bike holidays and
Kuranda. He and a mate cleared the now they’re worth a million,” Glen said. so many families are riding now. If we can
overgrown track so they could ride down. “Mountain biking did that.” spread that love, it’s all that matters.”
30-odd years later, not only is that track Glen’s aiming to replicate that
still in use, but Glen’s company World model in Cardwell and by expanding MORE: world-trail.com
Trail has left quite a legacy, including the Smithfield park.

35 • tropicnow.com.au