The Break O’Day council has been named a finalist in the Great Eastern Driver tourism awards in the community initiative category for its work in the mountain bike arena.

Mayor Mick Tucker said the council had been working hard behind the scenes for the past 12 months with various stakeholders and organisations to ensure longevity in its mountain bike project.

A recent announcement of a 22-kilometre stacked loop trail at St Helens will be the first stage of the project to be developed at Break O’Day. The project has been backed by the state and federal governments.

“For more than 12 months we have been working behind the scenes with various stakeholders and organisations to ensure the project was economically viable, able to inject much-needed revenue into the local economy, be low-impact and environmentally sustainable as well as have social benefits to the wider Break O’Day community,” he said. 

Other finalists in the awards include: Bay of Fires Bush Retreat, Bay of Fires Eco Tours, Bay of Fires Winter Arts Festival, Coffee Away, Greater Esk Tourism, Pelican Point Sanctuary, Weldborough Hotel and White Sands Estate.

Cr Tucker said the council was proud to see so many finalists from the area and described it as a “feather in the cap” for Break O’ Day and a good reflection of the growing tourism market on the East Coast.

“It’s great to see our tourism operators and businesses receiving this kind of recognition for their hard work, and from such a mix of services and locations across the municipality,” he said. 

He said he hoped the St Helen mountain bike network would encourage visitors to stay longer and help contribute to a much more stable, year-round tourism industry for the region and “bring more people to our beautiful corner of the world.”

The winners of the Great Eastern Driver Awards will be announced at an awards dinner held at White Sands Estate on June 16.