Bike track sees riders jump for joy

DURING pandemic lockdowns, fourteen-year-old Oscar Price headed to the old dirt bike jumps of Alfredton Recreation Reserve to exercise and be entertained while there was not much else to do.

“It was just around the corner, so I’d come down during break times and after school,” he said.

But when the City decided the jumps were risky, they were destroyed, so a group of parents and their proactive young riders, including Oscar and 12-year-old Lachlan Petrie, stood up to seek a solution.

The brand new and accessible $60,000 Alfredton BMX track, which officially launched this week, is a result of their advocacy, and has been co-designed by them.

“We had a meeting very Wednesday to design a purpose-built track. The council put up ideas, and we said what we wanted to add to it,” Lachlan said.

The young people had one priority feature they wanted to see in the finished drawings; lots of fantastic jumps.

“We said, add jumps, add jumps, add jumps… All we really wanted to do was jump,” Lachlan said.

Oscar said he’s “stoked” with the outcome, which has already been attracting streams of riders daily.

“We’re using it every day at the moment. When we drive past, mum will say, ‘we built that,’ and that we should be really proud of what we’ve done,” he said.

“Kids are here before school, after school, until dark… Even parents are having a go. There’s always someone here, even when it’s wet.”

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said the best way of knowing whether the municipality is “on the money” with a project is seeing it well-used.

“I live nearby and walk past here a few times a week. Outside school hours, there’s always someone on the track, and that’s a sign that clearly it’s popular and doing well,” he said.

“It’s a $60,000 investment and if it hasn’t been run over 60,000 times within a couple of months, then I’ll be very surprised.

“This complex is going through such a revolution. One of the youngest populations in Ballarat live in the Alfredton and Lucas areas, so having this sports hub with footy, cricket, netball, bowls and a BMX track complements it really well.”