COVID may have put the brakes on the Tathra Mountain Bike Festival for two years, but the popular event is finally back on.
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The festival will be held over the two days of the Queen's Birthday weekend, June 11-12.
The Essential Energy Lap It Up event - up to four laps of a 5km loop - will be held on June 11 and is suitable for younger or less experienced riders.
The major event, Tathra Beach and Bike five-hour race, will be held June 12 and can be tackled solo, in pairs, or as a team and follows the Bundadung trail, a 10km loop.
The festival takes place on Tathra bike trails first built by locals in 2005, including Andrew Johnson OAM, who followed the old wallaby trails to create the now famous singletrack network.
"The trails were built by a couple of fellows, colloquially described as the old guard," Geoff Pursell, secretary of the Tathra Mountain Bike Club, said.
"Andy was the driving force behind it."
A new guard has stepped up in recent years to continue developing and maintaining the trails as well as organise the festival.
They include Pursell and other volunteers from the Tathra MTB Club who get out their whipper snippers and blowers to clear the way so others can enjoy their ride on the weekends.
Mr Pursell said the copious rains haven't damaged the track in recent months, but volunteers are still grappling with the impact of bushfires.
"Once it [the fires] took all the top growth, that allowed all the weeds and the grasses and everything else to be constantly on the move. It just requires constant maintenance," he said.
Money raised from the festival will go towards maintaining the trails.
"This event is especially important to us as a club in order to raise funds for the maintenance of more than 50km of trail," Mr Pursell said.
To register or find out more visit www.tathramtbclub.com.