This February Collie Mountain Bike Association launched it’s brand new volunteer trail maintenance program: Wambenger Wednesdays.
For 8 weeks every Wednesday afternoon volunteers from the Collie Mountain Bike community teamed up to refresh the Wagyl Biddi Mountain Bike Trails. Over the course of the term 13 individual volunteers collectively contributed 50 hours of volunteer time to 11km of singletrack in the centre of town; pruning & clearing trails, and repairing drains & technical trail features.
In the final week of term we celebrated our hard work with a social ride and debrief at the Federal Hotel. Feedback on the program & outcomes was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees praised the program format for it’s organisation & structure highlighting working closely with other volunteers as their favourite part and “what the club should be about.”
Feedback on the trails was equally glowing with long-term members of the local riding community describing them as “Excellent” and “The best they’ve been since they were built.”
In term two visitation to the network has now increased with a group of 5 local teenagers riding together every Saturday.
Below are our goals for our first year of operation are & how we are tracking to achieve them.
Consistency - No cancellations, except for extreme weather.
On track! No cancellations yet.
Community Growth - Build and track attendance to >5 average participants
So far we have built attendance to an average of 3.6 weekly attendees.
Midway through term we recruited 2 new regulars via our social media posts.
Education - Coach participants on sustainable trail practices - seek accreditation
Participants received coaching on best practices, in line with WA Mountain Bike Management Guidelines.
Repeat volunteers demonstrated a growing understanding of sustainable practices such as erosion control.
Partnership - Establish communication channels with Land Managers
Term 1 program was approved by Shire of Collie.
Term 2 program has been approved by DBCA.
We are in talks with land managers to extend the program through to term 2 2027, expanding our impact into more local favourites.