Blue Derby: Home for the Australian Marathon Championships
This event is likely to one of the best in Australia thanks to the quality of trails, and the proximity to town.
All photos by Oliver King
The Apple Isle may soon become the Mountain Bike Isle with the rate of new trails being built in Tasmania. Moving away from its history as a penal colony for a penal colony, and home for the militant left wing greens, much of Tasmania is finding a new life thanks to mountain biking.
As forestry and mining are scaled back, mountain biking and tourism is set to save the small towns of Tasmania. In May, the township of Derby will host the 2015 Australian Marathon MTB Championships, across the weekend of the 16th and 17th.
The Blue Derby trails were opened in February this year, and have been lauded for their use of the terrain, and how they let mountain bikers truly experience the beauty of north-east Tasmania. We were lucky enough to be guided around the proposed 30km loop that will make up the course for the race, but 2010 Marathon champion Ben Mather.
The loop is primarily singletrack, save for a section of forest road to help thin the race out for the first lap. It climbs, descends, traverses and loops around the forests, rock formations creeks of the area – it’s a stunning place to ride a bike, and will be spectacular to race through.
Age group events will take place on Saturday 16th May, with Elite races taking place on Sunday 17th. So you’ll not only have a race to watch, but the trails will be less congested too.
Plenty has been said about Derby, so we’ll just let these photos from Launceston local Oliver King tell the story. This event is likely to one of the best in Australia thanks to the quality of trails, and the proximity to town.
Full event details are online: http://mtb.subaru.com.au/marathon-championships
