Mareeba Workers Club Bike Show
“Deep fried Baby Jesus, so there’s a bike show on ‘this’ weekend in Mareeba?” I yelled into the phone. “That’s great, mate, but where the Hell is Mareeba?”
I’LL be honest, I did have somewhat of a preconceived idea of what a bike show being held in the far flung tropics might look like, particularly one that was held in a small town 70 clicks outside of Cairns. Seems I got that wrong in the best way possible.
I was accompanied by long time mate and full time Kiwi Grant Thornbury who had not ridden these parts so I took him via the long way to show him the sights—rolling through Cairns, along the coast road to Port Douglas and in through Mt Malloy, halting only at Mt Malloy pub for a quick thirst quencher, then through to the Mareeba township itself. I highly recommend anyone coming up this way to take a spin along this route. The only down-side was seeing a fellow rider taken out by a fuckwit tourist in a Brits van along the coast road. Not sure who you are, mate, but if you’re reading this, I hope you are feeling better. The roadside drama aside, it’s not a long journey by any means but a great ride nonetheless.
We rolled through the gates at the Mareeba Workers Club and the event was well and truly underway with some razor-sharp-looking entries already being presented.
The show really started in the carpark area outside, with the venue looking somewhat under siege by hundreds of different breeds of motorcycles. Sort of like a motorcycle version of Custer’s Last Stand with the Workers Club building at the epicentre of the action. The odd Indian parked up around the fence-line helped pad that analogy out too, I guess.
Keenly supported, there seemed to be a prize category for everyone, with generous prizes coupled with some great looking trophies to boot.
The band kicked off with some crunchy tunes as more bike entries rolled in at a steady pace with numbers swelling by the minute, it seemed, only adding to the already fantastic fuckwit-free environment.
The Mareeba Bike Show has plenty of support by patrons and sponsors. Running an event is a lot of hard work, running an event and making it successful is tougher, but running an event and making it successful for many years is true dedication with the right formula brewed by all those involved. Dips of my lid to all who made it a great event.
article submitted by Pyro in Cairns
