Narooma Mountain Bike Club has been working hard over the past few months and has lodged its application for grant funding from the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLER) to enable construction of the planned Stages 2 and 3 of the Narooma Mountain Bike Hub in the Bodalla State Forest behind Dalmeny to create over 100kms of mountain bike trails and associated infrastructure.
It has been a busy but very successful past few months for the Club, which opened the first Stage of the trails on 27th November 2020 while working with leading trail designers World Trail, economic consultants Lucid Economics and regional tourism advisors and grant writing firm Tilma Group to design the trails and present the business case and regional tourism benefits for the funding application to BLER.
The Club has already been successful in securing grant funding from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), BizRebuild and Club Narooma to help the Club pay for their BLER grant application.
Users of the existing 30kms of trails in the recently opened Stage 1 have been showing their appreciation for this free facility by making donations to the Club on their website and local Narooma businesses are also getting behind the venture, including a recent significant donation of $5,000. President of the Club Georgie Staley said “The amount of support which we have received for this project is awesome and shows that we must be on the right track in developing a mountain bike hub in our region to provide year-round tourism and the physical and mental benefits for individual riders and families. "This is an important project for the Narooma district in so many ways and will help it bounce back after the 2020 bushfires and COVID-19.” Ms Staley said “We have letters of support from so many people and groups, including Federal Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain MP, State Member for Bega Andrew Constance MP, Eurobodalla Shire Council and individual councillors, Bega Valley Shire Council, the leading cycling groups AusCycling and Bicycle NSW, the Chambers of Commerce in Narooma and Central Tilba, the major tourism bodies Destination Southern NSW, Sapphire Coast Destination Marketing and South Coast Tourism Industry Association, Regional Development Far South Coast, Wagonga Local Aboriginal Land Corporation and many local businesses. "We even had a petition signed by over 300 people who took the time to give their support in the short time that the petition was available.” Ms Staley said “The trail design looks World class, the grant application team have been so professional and passionate about our application and people are flocking to the existing trails in our beautiful bush setting and coming away with big smiles.” Ms Staley was of the view that “The BLER funding is a wonderful initiative of the Federal and State Governments to kick start regional areas after the bushfires and get shovel-ready projects happening. We are ready to go. We have the design, a long-term land agreement with Forestry Corporation, a talented team who can deliver it and enthusiastic locals and visitors who want it to happen.” More information at: https://www.mountainbikenarooma.com.au/ or https://www.facebook.com/mtbnarooma
