More trails need to be built to make Blue Derby ready for the world's top mountain bikers to hit the dirt in next year's Tasmanian round of the Enduro World Series.
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Event Director of the Shimano Enduro Tasmania, Ian Harwood, said the event requires more technical trails.
The Enduro World Series draws together the world's elite mountain bikers for 8 stages around the world. The high skill level and speeds of these riders means technical obstacles in the trails are important to create an opportunity for riders to claw seconds away from their competitors.
Construction is yet to begin for the the world series, which is on in April 2017. They will be built by World Trails with good old fashioned hard work, being hand cut from the landscape using shovel and barrow.
World Trails Director, Glen Jacobs, said there is still plenty of time to make sure the tracks are rider ready. He expects construction to be finished by around Christmas. Enduro World Series Director, Chris Ball, will conduct a site inspection at Blue Derby around October.
Mr Jacobs said the technical tracks need to be on aggressive terrain, which the hills of the North East provide. “There are a lot of boulders and a lot of rock in the North East, we will be using a lot of those features for drops and jumps,” said Mr Jacobs.
The world series will see 500 riders descend on what is rapidly becoming a world renowned network of trails at Blue Derby. The Blue Derby round of the series is an Australian first. The location was chosen because, “Realistically it was one of the best places we could find in Australia to do it,” said Mr Harwood.
