Annual Blessing of the Bikes lost to Geelong after “bridges burned”

A massive motorbike event which brings thousands of people to the Phillip Island area has been lost for good to Geelong. Find out why.

The annual Blessing of the Bikes event which has historically been held in the Bass Coast will “never return” after “bridges were burnt” with organisers.

The event, which is normally held in San Remo and acts as a precursor to the MotoGP, was this year supposed to be held at the Phillip Island football oval.

Due to weather conditions the event had to be moved, at council’s request, to the main street of Cowes.

But event organiser Adam Turner said this didn’t go as well as hoped.

“That was never the original plan, we had planned to have it on the oval and by the time the call was made there wasn’t enough time to go back to San Remo so the main street of Cowes was a secondary option,” he said.

Mr Turner said a whole lot of “unfortunate circumstances” collided which meant the event wasn’t as successful as it could have been.

“It clashed with Bathurst and the weather was bad which meant a lot of people didn’t want to ride down. There just wasn’t as many bikes as we would’ve liked,” he said.

After the event Mr Turner said the team debriefed and decided the event needed to go back to San Remo.

“There was just too much of a risk that the weather would be bad again next year and we would be stuck in the same situation,” he said.

But when the San Remo traders were approached about the event returning to their main street they said no.

“So council offered us a bit of parkland at the back of San Remo, which would not have fitted all the bikes and just wouldn’t have been safe,” Mr Turner said.

“So, I went to Geelong and I was welcomed with open arms.”

Mr Turner said another issue with the event being held in Cowes was the sheer lack of volunteers.

“We really didn’t receive the support we needed to make the event run as it should’ve,” he said.

“After years of no one going down (to Phillip Island) you’d think they would be jumping at the chance to bring back the thousands of people, and subsequently the thousands of dollars they spend.”

But San Remo business owner Denni Slorach said many traders in San Remo suffered from the event.

“Overwhelmingly the businesses in San Remo lost money by having the event held, with the exception of coffee shops. Regular customers could not get into town to shop, and none of the bike riders were there to shop,” she said.

“Traders supported it enthusiastically the first year and then realised how detrimental it was to trade and no longer supported the event. Traders in Cowes would have experienced the same issues.”

Mr Turner said as a charity organisation they shouldn’t be the ones begging for towns to host their event.

“I believe it will never return to Phillip Island, they’ve burnt their own bridges,” he said.

The event will now be held in Geelong in October next year and has been expanded to also be held in Nagambie in November 2023.

Originally published as Annual Blessing of the Bikes lost to Geelong after “bridges burned”