What a great weekend to be in the Rockhampton Region. Fantastic weather and much to do throughout the region. The Riverside Festival goes from strength to strength attracting its biggest crowds yet. Plus on Saturday, for the first time the CQ Crane Hire Gold Rush Hill Sprint was held. Millions of dollars of privately owned vehicles going up the Mt. Morgan range in their attempt to be the quickest in Australia’s longest hill race. The noise of a V8 engine changing with its gears as it tackles the 24 twists and turns up the mount may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it proved, with little pre-publicity, to be more popular than expected. Rockhampton Region Councilors’ proclaimed before the start that the CQ Crane Hire Gold Rush Hill Sprint has the makings of an iconic event, Saturday proved the potential is really there. Thanks go to the volunteer organizing committee within the Central Queensland Motor Sports Club, who for two years pursued their dream to hold the event, the support of Council and local businesses to help cover some of the substantial costs involved. To realise the potential of being an iconic event it needs to be held regularly and grow. Like the Riverside Festival planning is already beginning on next year’s hill sprint with the objective of making it bigger and better. However, this is not a Tour de France hill climb where spectators can just line the street within arm distance of the competitors; spectator and driver safety are paramount. Perhaps not surprisingly an issue the inaugural event did encounter was insufficient safe viewing areas along the road to satisfy the demand on the day. An expensive issue to solve. To get the money to hopefully improve the situation for following years though one often has to first prove it’s an issue, then try and find the money to improve it. State Government support for the event will thus be needed in planning and funding, particularly in building more safe viewing areas, to grow the event. Appreciated, this is easy to say and will take jumping through numerous hoops to maybe achieve. Hopefully though, with runs on the board, this process won’t get tied up in red tape that could take years to untangle. It would be great to see next years Gold Rush Hill Sprint held over two days, involving a longer distance, with more cars partaking, and more spectators taking advantage of the numerous viewing platforms to safely watch the event. The economic spin-off to the region, particularly the communities of Mt. Morgan and Bouldercombe will be significant, justifying the investment required. Plus the national, and as the event develops into iconic status – international, publicity it will receive will result in the economic spin-off’s lasting more than just the one weekend as motoring enthusiasts throughout the year alter their road trips to include driving up the famous range road to visit the once richest gold mine in the world and be enchanted by the unique charm of Mt. Morgan and the rest of the region. I wonder with the CQMSC having paved the way in getting road closure approvals for the race, that it might be easier for the Rockhampton Cycling Club to plan their own Tour de Mount, incorporating a hill climb up the Mt. Morgan range and descending down the Razorback. A spectacle that may too require safe viewing platforms as cyclist could reach speeds of 90 kilometres an hour on descent. As I, and others, have said many times before, Mt. Morgan has given a lot in the past, and still has more to give; it just needs some triggers to get the cut through to gain the required attention. Unique events like the Gold Rush Hill Sprint and a possible cycle race taking advantage of the Mount’s unique features could be those triggers.