How many Australians participate in mountain biking?

In July, Nao Kamakura joined Bicycles Create Change as Research Assistant. Nao is investigating rates of participation in mountain biking, with a particular focus on rates of female participation. Below is Nao’s first post for BCC where she shares a few preliminary findings and thoughts.

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How many Australians participate in mountain biking as a sport?

Brisbane City Council claims that “Mountain biking is one of the fastest growing recreational activities”.

But, how many people actually participate in mountain biking as a sport?

According to 2016 data from the  Australian Government Australian Sports Commission, cycling is the 5th most popular sport in Australian for women (over 15 years) old and its total number of participants was 85,5231.

The total female population (for all ages) in Australia is 12.2 billion in 2016. Therefore, statistically, 7% of Australian women ride bicycles! This number includes both road cyclists and mountain bikers.

To participate in mountain bike competitions, riders need to register with Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA), which is the peak national organisation for mountain biking.

MTBA covers a number of off-road biking styles, including cross country, downhill, observed trials, cross-country marathon and cyclocross. Currently, MTBA has over 15,000 members and 175 affiliated clubs nationwide.

The number of female MTBA members in 2017 was 2,481 – and this gives provides our initial baseline for female participation and interest in the sport of mountain biking. However, these membership rates do not adequately signify actual participation rates.

Although MTBA registration offers membership in categories such as: race, non-riding, recreation, public liability, value-add, free trial, family and day licenses – it is important to keep in mind that are still a number of riders who are/have not registered with MTBA who mountain bike – and that their participation would not be represented in these rates.

Many riders are registered,  but not all MTBers participate in competitions. In particular, these numbers do not include the account for many riders who enjoy mountain bike without participating in competitions.

The approach, definition and classification of mountain biking vary significantly between the individual states and territories. Such differences impact how data is analysed, where funding is allocated and how the sport is viewed (and represented) by each state’s governing body. This is an area that will be of concerted interest for the project I am working on.

Interestingly, Western Australia is the only state that has clear statistics on mountain bikers. The WA government published the WA Mountain Bike Strategy 2015-2020 to encourage more people to engage in mountain biking.  The report clearly states that the number of women who mountain bike is 14,400. 

However again, these results do not mean that each of those 14,400 riders engages with MTBA as a sport, but it does list that the top three reasons Western Australians ride mountain bikes is 1) for the outdoor experience, 2) for fitness, and 3) for socialising.

So initial investigations show mixed results about the rates of mountain biking registration and participation.

So far, my research has not yet confirmed the actual number of female mountain bikers in the whole of Australia – the rate is still unconfirmed.

One reason for this is that the definition of mountain biking is ambiguous.

Depending on what you read or what states/territory you are in, mountainbiking can be classified as a sport, as recreation, or as transport. This lack of consistency means that it can be difficult to compare data sets.

It is a challenge and a pleasure to be learning more about mountain biking in Australia – and I look forward to sharing more insights and findings as they arise.

I hope mountain biking is more recognised as a sport in the near future and that rates of participants will increase!