About Us

Hello Members and Friends of the Warrnambool Mountain Bike Club.

Please see the below club news, it’s been a while and has got a bit long. But there’s so much good stuff going on, read on!

Thunder Point Access:

As many of you will know the WMTBC access is currently a year by year license that we apply for and receive from council. The WMTBC has been a part of the South Warrnambool Crown Land Precinct Plan, alongside 3 other user groups, the Golf Club, Trotting Club and Small Bore Rifle club. This process has seen committee members meet with council officers regularly, present at a council meeting, meet with other user groups and also meet with IMBA AU and show them our Thunder Point tracks. This has been a long process and has seen the involvement of many committee members, special thanks goes to Gavin Prentice for his efforts as being the chair of the Access committee and being the go to man for council.

The process is drawing closer to the finish line, and looks set to see us receive a longer license period with a greater ability to manage and develop the Thunderpoint Trail network. Obviously enabling us greater security and confidence to continue our positive efforts at Thunder Point. Hopefully within the next few months we will be announcing the results of the process. Watch this space!!

Unauthorised/Illegal Trail Construction:

  • Recently the club has become aware of unauthorised and illegal trail construction in the Thunder Point precinct. Such construction has the potential to jeopardise the success of WMTBC in receiving extended tenure at Thunder Point.
  • Construction of new trails at Thunder Point is NOT part of our license agreement. We ask members to not participate in such activities and to discourage anyone they may find doing so.
  • Please do not ride these trails, it only encourages illegal behaviour.

Trail Maintenance:

As part of our ongoing stewardship of the Thunder Point area the club is continually involved with the maintenance of our existing trails. There were several working bees in the lead up to the TP 180.

In 2013 Brett Easton, Dave Sagnol, Tanya Faux, Barry Pike and Brendan Polack attended an IMBA trail construction and maintenance course at Anglesea and the You Yangs, learning the theory and practice that goes into creating sustainable trails for all involved. It was a great course and Thunder Point is already showing the benefits with several corners improved.

WMTBC is in discussions with IMBA to run another course in the near future at Warrnambool. If this would interest you please have a chat with Brett Easton.

Recently students the School for Student Leadership has assisted with Clean up Australia day and some work on woody weed removal. Thanks very much to the students and staff involved. If you have a group that would be interested in assisting with the maintenance of the area. Please get in touch with us!

Club Memberships:

Memberships all done through the www.mtba.asn.au website. There is some related information here. They are a rolling membership so they expire at different times. Please keep yours current– it supports the club and more importantly insures you when you are racing!

WMTBC Committee:

The WMTBC committee is as follows:

P.    President: David Sagnol

VP. Vice President: Jon Lee

S.   Secretary: Jane Wade

T.   Treasurer: Graeme Wines

Committee:Gavin Prentice

Committee:Russell Cairns

Committee:Mia Easton

Committee: Simon Crispe

Committee: Shaun King

Committee: James Russell

Committee: Rob Gunstone

Committee: Andrew Hartwich

Committee: Noah Morton

In this small group there are a diverse range of local business owners,  teachers, a professor, and building & health industry professionals. What I am saying here is the WMTBC committee provides a fantastic opportunity for you to share your skills (and gain some new ones) with a variety of people whilst completing some very rewarding and challenging activities: such as website design and management, presenting to council, event planning and management, MTB skills instruction and coaching, cooking a BBQ, first aid, environmental revegetation and management and many more. All of this centres around riding a bike… it is a great way to put back into the community!

If being on the committee or assisting with specific event tasks sounds like you, please have a chat to one of us. We would love to have you on board!

New Club Jerseys:

New club jerseys are top quality and available now.

Also available are WMTBC Bottles, T shirts, Hoodies and Stickers so you can represent the club!

Sponsorship:

Sponsorship makes life so much easier for the WMTBC.

Many thanks to the Bicycle Centre for being major sponsors of the club.

Thanks also go to Warrnambool Offroad, Royal Bikes, Materia Brothers, Tru-Blu K9000, and Bicycle Centre for their support for the TP180.

We couldn’t offer such great events and prizes without them, so please support our sponsors as often as you can. If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the club please contact Russell Cairns, Graeme Wines or Jane Wade. We would love to have further sponsors on board!

Skills Development:

A true highlight has been the development of the youngsters and young at heart that come along to Thursday nights, many have made the step to their first racing with Dirt Crits and the TP 180 and many are now doing things on the bike they simply did not think they could before. Congratulations to all and many thanks to the instructors who come down and share their knowledge, skills and time.

On Behalf of the WMTBC Committee

See you on the Trails!