New Grant signals go ahead for Bedgebury project

Sport England and the Big Lottery Fund has given the Forestry Commission a grant to redevelop Bedgebury to build its first purpose built mountain bike trails. There will be at least 8.5km cycle routes suitable for all abilities and a mountain bike route of c.8km. The routes will include a long, singletrack crosscountry loop combining existing and new paths and a dedicated FreerideBike Park area is planned incorporating built structures and obstacles, designed to challenge a rider's ability and technical skills. The technical trail features will vary in difficulty to enable the bike park to be used by riders of all levels to have fun plus improve their skills. There are few paces that mountain bikers can go in the South East that have the range of riding experiences that Bedgebury will provide. Terry Jennings, Project Director at Bedgebury told us Bedgebury is aiming to create mountainbiking trails up to Olympic standard. We are currently in discussions with British Cycling and the International Mountain Bike Association to develop state of the art mountain bike trails that are suitable for trialling our athletes of the future. www.bedgeburypinetum.org.uk