Blessingbourne Mountain Bike Volunteers hit the trails

Saturday 18^th February saw the first meeting of the newly formed CAAN MTB Volunteer Rangers. The MTB Volunteers were invited to come to Blessingbourne Estate MTB Trails in Fivemiletown to meet with Phil Saxena, the trail designer. The training day involved and introduction to CAAN and the Volunteer Ranger Scheme by Diane Patterson, Development Officer for CAAN. Phil then gave a background to the development of the trails and an overview of what would be achieved throughout the day. Tea, coffee and freshly made scones provide by Colleen Lowry, Estate owner, started the day off nicely! The volunteers made their way around the trail with Phil highlighting potential issues on the way. He also took the time to explain the principles behind trail design and that tackling smaller problems when they arose on a regular basis would be more beneficial than waiting until a larger problem had developed.

After a well earned lunch, the volunteers worked with Phil and representatives from Dungannon District Council, to carry out maintenance on the pump track at Blessingbourne. Material was wheel barrowed in and worked into place to build up the sides of the pump track, which had been showing signs of wear and tear. As a result of the volunteer rangers and the council being on site, the pump track and the trails are

An annual programme of maintenance is being established so that the quality of the trails is kept at a high level. Many thanks to all the volunteers who took the time to come to the training day, to Phil Saxena, to Dungannon District Council Staff and to the Lowrys of Blessingbourne Estate.

For more information on the MTB Volunteer Ranger Scheme, please contact Diane Patterson on 028 9030 3934 or at diane@countrysiderecreation.com