The Campbell River Bike Park is one step closer to completion after receiving two sizeable donations this month.
Funding will be going to the next phase of the project: a set of four tracks of different skill levels that will run down the side of the facility, along with a skill development area and picnic area for families. The four tracks will range from a beginner run, to a dual slalom course for medium-skilled riders, to an advanced jump course with bigger gap features. The new phase will also include a graduated drop area for riders to learn more skills that can be translated to more difficult trails in the area around the city.
“It’s going to be a really great feature for advancing skills. The kids/tots area is going to have a skills area that has a bit more kid-friendly, but still with adult level skill. There’ll also be a picnic area, which will be a place within the park where people can still be social and family-oriented,” said Bike Park Society President Wendy Ravai.
Ravai started the project after she saw a need for a place to go mountain biking with her kids. She envisioned a park where everyone could go ride together and advance their skills.
“I wanted the whole family at different ages and abilities to go to one place and still have the challenging riding to improve their skills,” she said. “We’ve heard that some communities have not had advanced enough jump lines, and some communities have had too advanced of jump lines. Our guys are very aware and wanting to make this a very user friendly and progressive park.”
Over the past nine years, that idea has grown into a place to build the community of mountain bikers and Campbell River as a whole.
“It’s a common place,” she added. “Since mountain biking is such an inclusive group, there’s all sorts of different people who mountain bike, and what a great way to bring people together in a safe and well-built area.”
The society behind the park received a donation of $19,900 from Daybreak Rotary, as well as a $5,000 from Fortis BC to go toward the park. Combined with a $100,000 donation from Campbell River Rotary and some other smaller donations puts the project just under their expected budget.
“The whole project is about $400,000 in costs, so we’re doing pretty good in that we’re in the last 10 to 15 thousand of a 400,000 project,” said Ravai.
A tentative date has been set for the beginning of construction. Ravai said they hope to start on the project in early June. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that is subject to change. The crew of four builders from Sechelt-based Coast Gravity Group will be working in an outside environment that follows current WCB recommendations and will be ensuring social distancing is met through the process. During the construction, the site will be surrounded with construction fencing. Ravai asked that people stay off the jumps until they are complete for safety and liability reasons.
“Jumps and developments need to set, and if people get in and start using them it can wreck it,” she added.
Construction should take around one month to complete.
The society does need additional funding to meet their goal. Roughly $10,000 is still required to fill the budget. Those who are interested in donating to the project can contact the Campbell River Bike Park Society by email at info@crbikepark.ca. More information can be found at the group’s Facebook page.
