Stromlo Forest Park

From 2005 to Feb 2021 Makin Trax designed, constructed and maintained all of the trails and infrastructure at Stromlo Forest Park.  The scope of these works entailed design, development, master planning and maintenance of all trails at the Park.  Makin Trax played a key role in preparing for major events held at the Park such as the MTB World Championships, Scott 24hr.

Challenges

  • Maintaining a large network of trails to cope with vast amounts of traffic and high intensity events
  • Providing variety and enjoyment while keeping trails safe as possible within IMBA standards
  • Managing numerous user groups on single use trails in close proximity to each other
  • Dealing with a soil type that is not stable in wet or dry conditions. The site hydrology is such that prolonged wet weather makes the site prone to the creation of springs

Solutions

  • Using its vast experience in maintaining Australia’s premier mountain bike park Makin Trax developed the Makin Trax Trail Building system. This system has taken the IMBA guidelines and improved on them to the extent that all components of the system are measurable, quantifiable and auditable
  • Stromlo Forest Park was the first beneficiary of this revolutionary system as all elements of the system were developed and tested on the Stromlo site
  • While sustainability is of extreme importance, variety and enjoyment of a trail network ranks highly too.  Makin Trax successfully blended the sustainability of a trail and enjoyment for all users very well through careful design and creative use of the land
  • All trails are as safe as they can be within the IMBA guidelines
  • Having a keen understanding of various user group needs and the way they use the trails enabled Makin Trax to successfully merge multiple trails with different usage status (e.g. walking trail, MTB trail, Equestrian trail) in a way that is safe and produces minimal user conflict

Outcomes

  • Makin Trax designed and built a trail network that can stand up to the most demanding world level event while still catering to the average recreational user.  This is not an easy thing to achieve and does not happen by accident.  Makin Trax understood exactly what was needed to achieve a particular riding style, backed up by the Makin Trax Trail Building System