New trail adds to Collie’s biking status

Collie Shire president Sarah Stanley says the launch of a new mountain bike trail has already led to a number of visitors coming to the region over the Australia Day long weekend.

The Collie Wagyl Biddi Mountain Bike Trails is a new 9km trail network with a series of connected trails built to beginner and intermediate levels which was officially opened last week.

Ms Stanley said she was pleased to see a number of people using the facility over the long weekend.

“Being a long weekend we had a lot of people here for a lot of reasons, but there were a lot of mountain bikes on the backs of utes and cars,” she said.

“It is a fantastic addition to all of our trails and a really big step in becoming one of the State’s premier mountain biking hubs.”

Ms Stanley said a lot of thought had gone into the name of the trail.

“Wagyl is the shortened version of the hairy-nosed serpent that legend says created all of our river ways including the Collie River,” she said.

“Biddi means pass through forest so people know that from Munda Biddi but we have used it for this trail as well to raise a bit more awareness of what that word is and linking that to our other trails as well.”

Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray said the trail was a feather in the cap for Collie.

“To be able to have that track there which will attract people from all over the State is part of the changing economic base of Collie,” he said.