Ontario mountain bikers come together at first ever provincial summit

By Dean Campbell

KITCHENER, Ontario (IMBA Canada) - This past weekend, the International Mountain Bicycling Association hosted its first ever provincial mountain bike summit at Chicopee Ski and Summer Resort, in Kitchener, Ontario. Over 65 attendees committed to work towards forming a working group to advocate for mountain biking in Ontario.

“Mountain biking is the fourth most popular activity in Ontario,” said Mark Schmidt from the Canadian branch of IMBA. “That puts it ahead of golf, ahead of hiking, ahead of camping. The big concern is that there is no provincial advocacy body to lobby for the sport.”

IMBA Canada is a national organisation and cannot lobby at the provincial level, leaving individual mountain bike clubs to approach the government for grants or policy changes.

The sport is healthy in Ontario, with over 130 clubs across the province. The riding here is so diverse that Schmidt and his partner Lora Woolner, who collectively run IMBA Canada have moved from the west coast back to Ontario.

“The riding on the west coast is amazing, but you just don’t get the same diversity as you can find in Ontario,” said Schmidt. “You really can get every kind of riding in here.”

Over the three day conference, participants joined in a trail build session, and two days of seminars on managing mountain biking. The message to attendees was clear.

“For anyone who wants to grow the sport, you need to become one voice,” said Chris LaForest, Director of the Bruce County Planning and Economic Development Department. For LaForest, land managers want to see an organized body, with a commitment to long term planning and strategy.

LaForest’s comments were echoed by other panellists, including Graham Lamb of Parks Canada and Scott Laver from the City of Toronto.

“We need to be a big loud voice, and once we’re a big loud voice, it’ll work,” said Schmidt.

Numerous clubs were represented at the summit, with three of the best illustrating how to build a successful club program.

The conference was held at Chicopee Ski and Summer Resort, and included a movie premier and silent auction on Saturday night.

“The proceeds of the movie night and auction are set aside as seed money to get this provincial group off the ground,” said Woolner of the over $1700 raised. “We had great support from all of our sponsors to make this come together. This was the first provincial conference we have run, and we hope to continue in different provinces in the future.”

The conference received support from top level sponsors Subaru Canada and Chicopee Ski and Summer Resort, as well as support from King Street Cycles, Camelbak, Shimano, Jamis Bicycles, Norco Performance Bikes, Braun’s, Hub Bicycle Shop, Clif Bar, Pedal Magazine, Ryeka Sport and Wellington Breweries.

For more information on the conference, please visit www.imba.com/canada or contact Mark Schmidt or Lora Woolner at canada@imba.com