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Kowen Forest to face the chopping block.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news try to get better at least people know this news.
The full article is here as published in Canberra Times.
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Sadly it's not new news, this has been on the cards forever. Not sure what the impact on Sparrow Hill will be, however, I know East Kowen won't be the same again in my riding lifetime.
Hence 2017 being the last Mont 24 (... for now)
Hence 2017 being the last Mont 24 (... for now)
Unfortunately that's not the reason, hawkeye. The unavailability of some tracks is not insurmountable. The massive effort it takes to rum the event these days was the deciding factor.
I'm totally bummed that it's been wrapped up but after talking to the lads I understand the reasons.
but it would have been a factor.
I think the major reason was they got a bit of a fright with the entry numbers being off previous years and not having a "quorum" (as they called it) for the event to go ahead until just before deadline. It's a massive up front investment to run these things, and entry numbers were showing it was not in a good spot on the product lifecycle chart. And running a 24 is probably even more tiring than racing it.
Such a shame. It was the best Mont 24 I've had yet. I've been faster in previous years but the group of newbie randoms I teamed up with were excellent, taking it semi-seriously and I did the most kilometres around the course ever.
According to a post from SelfPropelled, they didn't know until late May about this:
"Kowalski Brothers volunteer trail builders co-ordinator Alan Vogt said he was told about the plans on May 24, just two weeks before the forestry operations were slated to begin."
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/kowen-f...
And just announced - the last Kowalski Classic is to be held in October
http://selfpropelled.com.au/event/kowalski-classic/the-race/
I'm really sad about this, I've been a regular Canberra visitor on my 2nd life on the MTB since 2011.
The maze of trails around this area will be missed, and I've done 3 Kowalski Classics to date and will probably do this year's. It's always a race that I look forward to in the year.
Beer Garden and a bunch of other trails are already gone I believe.
On the upside they are building new trails at the Arboretum, which I'm looking forward to as there will be something to do for the wife and kids whilst I go riding
Yep, harvesting has already commenced at East Kowen and work is scheduled to commence at Sparrow Hill in the new year.
But don't worry, new trails will be built and maybe some of the old ones will also be reopened. We'll just have to wait and see what's left behind after harvesting.
Form my POV the most disappointing thing will be the lack of trees in some areas, once we start riding out there again.