Pedal power returns: Kununurra BMX track reopens with the Kununurra Half Marathon
After being off-track all wet season, the dirt obstacle course is ready for action thanks to Kununurra man Glenn Taylor and his excavator, as well as funding from Water Corporation and Lions Club Kimberley Community Grants.
Mr Taylor has been smoothing out the straights and building up the jumps ahead of the BMX track's opening on Sunday to coincide with the Kununurra Half Marathon.
'It's a dirt track that needs a lot of care and attention after the wet season so it takes a fair bit of reshaping just to make it smooth, so I have been on the rake and the excavator and it's good to open,' he said.
'Because the opening coincides with the half-marathon, we expect to have a lot of kids down there on the opening day. (East Kimberley) Clontarf Academy will be down there having a bit of a run. In the past years he have had PCYC down there, so there should be a lot.'
The Kununurra Half Marathon will begin and end at the BMX track near the Kununurra Rodeo Grounds on Drovers Road.
About 200 people are expected to participate in the 21km run.
Mr Taylor said refurbishing the BMX track each year was a labour of love.
'Living in the Kimberley, I manage a lot of sports but this is my charity project for the community, because I just really believe in BMX for the kids,' he said.
'So this is the one where I donate my time to make it happen.
'We are a lower socio-economic demographic town, and most of the kids don't have the bikes to go on to our mountain bike trails, but they do tend to have BMXs and they can get themselves there. It's only 2km out of town.
'It's all about controlled risk. BMX is just an option where they can take some controlled risks and burn off a lot of that energy here, and it's an alternative to some of the other risks that they might be considering.'
An application has been put in for a $500,000 grant through the State Government's Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund for the creation of an all-weather track which will include sealing the start ramp and the corners, as well as putting gravel on the four straights.
Mr Taylor said they had received positive feedback on the application.
The Kununurra Half Marathon starts at 7am on Sunday.
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