Break O’Day Mayor Mick Tucker says new St Helens trails will be hub of Tasmanian mountain biking Mecca

A Tasmanian mayor says the state will become a mountain biking Mecca when new trails open in his municipality, bringing with them up to 130 new jobs. SEE THE OPENING DATE

St Helens Mountain Bike Trails to be opened in November. Picture: JASPER DA SEYMOUR

ST HELENS will become the hub of a mountain biking Mecca, with up to 130 new jobs created when new trails open in November says Break O’Day mayor Mick Tucker.

Cr Tucker this week announced the “epic” multimillion-dollar St Helens Mountain Bike Trails will be officially opened on November 22.

The announcement follows the recent success of the Maydena Bike Park and Blue Derby Mountain Bike Trails.

Both developments saw employment and property prices rise in their areas.

The St Helens development includes 110km of trails across two locations with a 66km “stacked loop” network just south of St Helens and a 44km ride from the top of the Blue Tier Forest Reserve to the Bay of Fires.

St Helens Mountain Bike Trails to be opened in November. Picture: JASPER DA SEYMOUR

“To be quite honest and to be upfront, we expect that we will become the hub of mountain biking to a certain degree in Tasmania,” Cr Tucker said.

The Blue Tier to the Bay of Fires trail starts in the subalpine and finishes on a pristine beach.

“There’s nothing like that in the world. As far as we know, this will pretty much be a world first and iconic in its own way.”

Cr Tucker said the 66km stacked loop trails had “amazing terrane, views of the coast line and some tough riding”.

He said the new trails would compliment, not compete with Tasmania’s popular pre-established mountain biking trails.

“We’re hoping people will come to St Helens and make this their base. They will use the shuttle buses to go from here to Derby and the Blue Tier.

Have you been looking for a way to be a part of the St Helens Mountain Bike Trails? Or perhaps your businesses is...

Posted by Break O'Day Council on Tuesday, 10 September 2019

“When they’ve finished in our area, they’ll got to Maydena, Sheffield and all of the different trails.

“What we think we’ve achieved is creating a magnificent draw card, not just for our area, but for all of Tasmania.”

Cr Tucker said being an established tourism destination with infrastructure and services in place made St Helens an ideal hub for Tasmania as a mountain biking “Mecca”.

“We want [Tasmania] to be the Mecca. If you want to go mountain bike riding, you come to Tasmania because we can offer everything you want in one place.”

Cr Tucker said council had received advice and commissioned independent surveys, which indicated the development could see “anywhere between 80 to 130 jobs created in northern Tasmania” — particularly in the transport and hospitality industries.

He said St Helen’s new Waterfront Holiday Park, which opened last year, was built because of the trails and was already becoming “the place to go” for food and accommodation.

“That’s created a lot of local jobs, and there will be specialty jobs popping up because of the new opportunities, from trail maintenance to shuttle buses.

“We’re seeing massive investment come to St Helens, which in itself is creating quite a lot of jobs not only in building and infrastructure.

“We’re looking long term as this being the economic spoke in the wheel that starts it turning and creates the optimism to create more investment and more jobs.”

The St Helens Mountain Bike Trails were funded by local, state and federal Government.

Riders will be able put the trails to the test from 9am Friday November 22.

St Helens Mountain Bike Trails to be opened in November. Picture: JASPER DA SEYMOUR

The trails will be officially opened that day with ribbon cutting ceremonies at Swimcart Beach at 11.30am and at the trailhead off Flagstaff Rd, St Helens at 12.30pm.

St Helens will “come alive” the following day with the Sea Trail-Fest taking over the coastal town.

There will be a “Family Hub” with mountain bike skills and coaching, a “MTB Demo Hub” with a stunt rider and stalls and a “Chillax Hub” with live music and other activities to be announced.

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