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THE INVERHURON BIKE PARK |  |
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THE INVERHURON BIKE PARK | |
Committee to be formed to look into Mountain Bike Park
Editorial - Area could benefit from bike park
Kincardine News - Wednesday June 13, 2007
A new Mountain Bike Park in Inverhuron is exactly what the municipality needs.
Local riders Drew Otterman and Dave Melanson gave an excellent presentation to council on June 6 and demonstrated how special and unique projects, such as this, should be approached.
They had the topic well-researched, with many examples, photos and videos to give councillors a good idea of what they have planned and the potential such a park could have in the municipality
Saugeen Shores has a thriving BMX track, so the possibility of a 20-acre cross-country track could far surpass it, as the diversity of the terrain and location offers far more ability to make it a successful sports and tourism draw. Mountain biking is also something for riders of all skill-levels, although many of the more advanced tracks aren't for the faint-of-heart.
It's one of many recreational facilities that can offer children, youth, young adults and the young-at-heart, a venue and outlet to get physical, have fun and compete for prizes and recognition. It could also be the first step for many, who are reaching for bigger and better competition in the world of sport.
The land is available, the local interest is here and now all it will take is some planning help from council and Bruce County, who operate successful tracks in Brockton and Wiarton. One more track could only benefit the community, draw tourists and strengthen the already thriving athletics culture in the Municipality of Kincardine and surrounding area.
Area businesses, corporations and members of the public should be anxious to jump on the bandwagon for this project. The only place it can climb is up.
This will be a new attraction in Inverhuron coming next year.
Inverhuron Bike Park Ad Hock Committee has been setup and had the first meeting on September 25 2007.
The members of the committee are
| Gordon Barr | Jeff Picard | Brian Luinstra |
| Drew Otterman | Dave Melanson | Councillors Mike Leggett |
| Councillors Marsha Leggett | Stephen Murray as the Staff Resource | .Jennifer Mckellar is alternate |
The Inverhuron Bike Park is a go and will be starting in the next few weeks with volunteer days during the summer.
The first things for the committee to do on the site is to layout the potential trails, parking lot, picnic area and skills area this is to start April 4 weather permitting.
If you did not know the location of the Inverhuron Bike Park it is at the end of Richards Drive in Inverhuron
Troy Patterson
Kincardine News Staff
Wednesday April 23, 2008
Clean-up at the site of Inverhuron’s future mountain bike park will begin this Saturday.
With $40,000 provided through the 2008 budget by the Municipality of Kincardine, organizers hope to get the project at the 20-acre Richards Drive site off the ground this summer.
“We hope to start some preliminary trails, a picnic area and a parking lot this summer,” said Council Mike Leggett, who heads-up the ad-hoc committee organizing the project.
Leggett said they’re pondering whether to hire a firm to do some of the construction work this summer, in order to get it up and running sooner.
The project first surfaced after a presentation last year by local mountain bikers Dave Melanson and Drew Otterman, who approached council about the concept. The two had been riding on the property without permission, so Public Works, through Leggett, told them they would have to remove their equipment. They then formally approached council about the concept.
Both now sit on the committee, along with other councillors and interested members of the community.
The piece of property, near Inverhuron Provincial Park, is a former gravel pit owned by the municipality.
 Dave Melanson |
 Drew Otterman |
By MOLLY DOYLE of the Kincardine News
August 5 2009
The Inverhuron Bike Park had its' grand opening last August, but it is now open for the second season with some new additions to draw mountain bikers of all skill levels.
Phase one was completed with a few trails and jumps last summer, but this summer there are a few more things to do, ranging from an easy trail for anyone to try, to difficult trails for the more experienced biker.
Steve Murray, manager of Economic Development and Tourism in Kincardine, says he hopes to have the new additions completed by the end of this summer.
Now the bike park has their medium trail completed, and is working on fixing stuff up from last year, finishing off the easy loop, blue square trail, double diamond, and wants to possibly connect to the Provincial Park with a trail. In the park there is a trials area for kids to learn about mountain biking, three levels of dirt jumps, and among the trails are ramps, wall rides and teeter totters for people to try.
The park gets steady use, and there are about five to 10 kids a day on average, said Murray.
The park held an event on Saturday with a bike skills demonstration, the regular bikers will show kids how to use the park, and proper etiquette when riding and doing tricks.
There was music and food and drinks.
There was also a park logo contest, with forms available at the park, or online at //www.tivertonreunion.ca/
The winners will be announced on Aug. 27, with the first place winner receiving $100, second place receiving $75, and third place receiving $50.
Sponsors of the park are Home Hardware, Jackson Construction and OPG, but the park is still looking for sponsorship to achieve their approximate $16,000 goal.
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Posted By ELYSE DEWAR, Kincardine News Staff
It's closed for the season, but the Inverhuron Bike Park had a very successful season with bigger expectations for next year.
Steve Murray, manager of Economic Development and Tourism in Kincardine said traffic was up at the park this summer.
At first things seemed slow, but it really picked up after the August long weekend, Murray said.
Aside from some maintenance clean ups, Murray said they are looking to replace one of the trail features for its third season next year.
The hope for next year is to finish one of the family trails, called the easy loop and do some maintenance to one of the more difficult trails, the double diamond.
Murray said, to his surprise, the average age of mountain bike trail users are between 10-15.
I thought it would have been older users, but this is great, he said. I've been told they are there anywhere from half an hour to five hours.
He said because this feature is so unique to our area, it is well used.
Locally, its the closest thing we have to mountain biking, said Murray. It's great. It's better than having these 10-year-olds playing video games inside.
Posted By PAT HALPIN, SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
The removal of technical features at the Bruce Peninsula Mountain Bike Park could be the first in a wide sweep of restrictions for recreational trails.
The cost of insurance is behind forced changes that will close the popular park until mid-summer, said Bruce county planner Chris LaForest.
Tourist operators and mountain bikers are upset with the removal of elevated wooden structures that made the Bruce Peninsula Mountain Bike Park a model for the sport, LaForest told Bruce county council last week.
The problem is the potential for lawsuits. Municipalities are seen as targets with deep-pockets for a liability settlement in case of an injury by a trail user, LaForest said. Insurers argue that high court awards for injuries are pushing premiums up.
"There's been a real chill on municipalities on trails in general," LaForest said. "Unlike other jurisdictions (Ontario doesn't) really have any specific trail legislation that in my mind provides proper protection for municipalities that do have trails."
Bruce county Warden Mike Smith confirmed the removal of wooden structures at the highly-acclaimed park near Wiarton is partly driven by insurance costs and issues at the mountain bike park.
Smith is concerned about a trend that could limit trail development on a wider scale.
"I think we've got some great parks and trails. We've put a lot of effort into building them and making sure they're safe," Smith said.
"When insurance costs drive you to make decisions like this it's not good."
Clamping down on trail use runs against efforts to promote physical activity. High insurance premiums further limit trail access by adding to municipal costs and raising the price of trail permits for user groups like snowmobilers.
"Maybe if we had some insurance reform and liability reform, some of that could go into constructing trails and getting more people out on trails," LaForest said about the portion of trail user fees and costs that now go toward insurance premiums.
The answer, according to both LaForest and Smith, is insurance legislation reform that would clarify who is responsible in case of injury and set limits on damages.
"I know there's a number of groups that are petitioning the province to look at limiting that liability," Smith said.
"It's an issue that all municipalities deal with -you've got to balance what you build against taking on a whole lot of risk and a whole lot of cost in insurance."
The Bruce Peninsula Mountain Bike Park cost about half a million dollars in labour and materials. It was built under experienced leadership to standards set by the International Mountain Biking Association.
LaForest estimates it will take about $20,000 to remove elevated wooden structures, replace them with a dirt "pump track" and enhance existing single- track trails on the property.
The entire bike park will be closed until mid summer while that work is in progress, but the county's three other bike parks remain open.
They are located int the Brant tract near Paisley, the Mildmay track and the Lindsay tract on the Peninsula, and together offer 72 km of bike and walking trails.
revised 2012 Sept 8