The first asphalt “pump-track” in the North East has been built in the White Box Rise estate at Wodonga, attracting bikers from all over the region.
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Border-based Terrain Trail Construction built the track in a new section of the estate over the past three months.
Director Leigh Hollands said the next closest infrastructure of this kind was at Wagga.
“The excitement is it’s a first in North East Victoria and the advantage with the asphalt is there’s lower maintenance than the dirt pump-tracks, which need regular re-building,” he said.
“This is a smaller one aimed at beginners, but the other benefit with asphalt is it can be for BMX, kids with scooters, skateboards – anything with wheels.
“Landscaping is our main business and trail construction is something we’ve been doing for four years now.
“This is something we’re hoping to push as we are in a mountain bike hotspot.”
White Box Rise land sales and marketing manager Amanda Kotzur said the developer had funded the construction of the track, built in a reserve off Grieve Way.
“Our landscaper is Terrain – this is something Leigh approached us with and we loved the idea,” she said.
“This is an estate that by the time it’s completed will have sold 1100 lots, so we have a lot of families residing in the estate and it’s great to get the kids outside and being active.
“There’s many pockets of things to do; we have WAVES, three big playgrounds, and now the pump track, all within walking distance.”
Mr Hollands said word had quickly got out about the new track within the biking community.
“There’s strong demand for these projects – recently we completed a 1.8-kilometre skills-development loop at CSU,” he said.
“The pump-track was a bit of challenge; normally asphalt is laid and compacted flat, so to sculpt it took a bit of work, but we were pretty pleased with how it came up.
“I was blown away by how many people were there at the weekend.
“For me, the exciting thing about it is just the broad range of users, all ages and genders, from kids five years old on balance bikes to guys aged 50-plus on mountain bikes.”