Holyrood mountain bike trail goes to the designers

By Craig Westcott

Mills & Wright Landscape Architecture has won the contract to design a new mountain trail in Holyrood.
The St. John’s landscape architects will be working with the Avalon Mountain Bike Association on the design and specifications for a Request for Proposals to companies interested in bidding on the construction of the trail.
The design contract is worth $24,485 plus HST. The trail is part of Holyrood’s Trails Masterplan.
“It’s a growing sport, which attracts a lot of tourism activity,” said councillor Steve Winsor, noting one of the sports featured in the recent Canada Games was a mountain bike skills competition. “That’s an indication that it really is a growing sport, so by us doing this in our community, it will continue to attract people. I think it’s money well spent.”
Mayor Gary Goobie agreed. “I see a lot of young people and even adults on these mountain bikes,” said Goobie. “And as you just said it’s becoming an extremely popular recreation sport and it’s a great opportunity that parents and children can go off as a family on a mountain trail and enjoy their day. It’s great and we’re going to see that grow into the future for sure. It’s all part and parcel of the overall Recreation Masterplan that we are developing for the benefit of all ages in the community.”
Councillor Laura Crawley pointed out that during last fall’s budget consultations one of the few groups to make a presentation was the Holyrood Trails Association.
“They came in and laid out what they’re willing to do and the volunteer hours they’re willing to put in and where it’s going,” said Crawley. “This is a different pot of money, obviously, than you would put into your water and sewer and your infrastructure and public works. The money is there from other avenues, so it’s really important to know that we can still work on our infrastructure while promoting this recreation development as well.”
Goobie said Holyrood is becoming a hub of activity for tourists and residents alike. And the mountain bike trail will add to that.
“People are coming from everywhere,” said the mayor. “There are a lot of visitors – because I speak to people, I’m inquisitive to find out if they’re from Ontario, if they’re from down the shore, or if they’re from somewhere across the province. But we do have a huge number of visitors in this community, and tourists and this is what they want. That’s why they’re here, that’s why they’re not in these larger urban centres; they want to get out in the countryside, they want to enjoy looking at the ocean and the smell of the ocean, see the whales out in the harbour, people catching cod on the shoreline, caplin rolling… You can’t put a price tag on what we have here in the community. So, when we have these added amenities that they can avail of – walking trails, hiking trails, mountain bike trails – this is what they’re here for. So, it’s all good.”