Macleay Valley prepares for weekend of mountain biking

Local riders Harvey Nicholson, Blake Nicholson and Noah Bailey said they were excited for the three days of mountain biking

"I'm most excited about the enduro race on the Sunday," Noah said.

"It's good the have it starting up again this year and it would be good to see everybody out there."

Harvey agreed it was exciting to have more young people to compete against with Round One of NSW Schools Mountainbike Series XC coming to Kempsey on Friday, March 8.

"And girls too," he added.

"It's definitely good to get some younger people into bike riding," Noah said.

"It's mostly men so it's a good thing if we have more women in it as well."

Macleay Valley Mountain Bikers Club president Kylie Stewart and vice president Ben Bailey said they were excited for the three days of mountain biking

"We had the same events last year which was quite successful and saw around close to 200 riders over the three days," Ms Stewart said.

"I'd like to see similar numbers if not more."

The NSW Schools Mountain Bike Series XC and Funduro MTB Series kicks off the long weekend of racing on Friday, March 8.

Next comes round one of the Supavest NSW State Mountain Bike Series Cross Country on Saturday, March 9.

The inaugural Graham Seers Cyclery Gravity Enduro Series on Sunday, March 10 will wrap up the three days of mountain biking.

The new gravity enduro series is replacing the White Lightning North Coast Enduro Series.

"Previously it was an event that was run by Mark White...so he retired last year and obviously that competition has ceased," Ms Stewart said.

"There's no gravity enduro event on the Mid North Coast anywhere else."

"So we're going to try and run our own series ourselves here, where before it used to go to different places," Mr Bailey said.

"So it's exciting to have our own series and now we've got new trails that we can run, we have more variety for each round as well."

The club received support and sponsorship from Graham Seer Cyclery, Macleay Valley Coast, Hare & Forbes Machinery, North Coast Steel to help create the new event.

"Without their contribution, we wouldn't be able to run the series," Ms Stewart said.

Late last year the club celebrated the opening of new amenities and upgraded Kalateenee Mountain bike trails achieved through government grants.

As the popularity of mountain biking continues to grow, the positive impact the sport has on regional areas becomes more apparent.

The club hosted the schools and Supavest events for the first time last year, with positive results

"Based on the success of last year, there was a commitment from the organisers for the schools event and the cross country event to come back again to Kempsey for round one," Ms Stewart said.

"Last year we saw around 70 kids come along as far south as Sydney to as far north as the Tweed and over the mountains to Tamworth."

Ms Stewart said it would be awesome to see that many people arrive again this year.

"Not only do they come and use the trail for that event but they stay for the weekend," she said.

"And they stay in the region which obviously brings people to the Macleay shire so not only do we benefit as a club but the community does as well."

For the club's riders, it's also a great chance to compete.

"It gives people a taste of what an event is too," Mr Bailey said.

"They come out for a social ride but they don't race.

"This gives them the opportunity to race locally on the trail that they know."

But for younger riders like Blake, having more people to compete against brings new challenges.

"I'll have competition!" he said.