MACKAY is built to be an action sports precinct – it just doesn’t know it yet.
That was what organiser of the Rumble on the Reef event co-ordinator Donny Fraser said before he revealed plans were in the works to continue expanding the competition with each iteration.
The increasingly popular skateboarding event expanded to three others sports this year.
A BMX competition will run at the Sugar Bowl in the second week along with wakeboarding events at the Mackay wakeboarding club.
Professional skater Jesse Brodbeck at the Mackay Sugar Bowl for the first Rumble on the Reef competition in 2018.
Most impressively is the confirmation Mackay beaches will join the likes of Mexico, San Francisco and France in hosting a Hydrofoil Pro-Tour event.
Fraser said the region had the potential to become the only continual extreme sporting festival in the country.
BMX is one of the new sports added to the Rumble on the Reef festival.
Australia has hosted extreme sport events before, but nothing permanent.
“Occasionally a government will put up big dollars to host an X Games or something. I think something more relative to Australia with some of the sports we have is a better option and something we can expand,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of things that have come and gone … I think we need something owned locally, owned by the community which we can showcase as an international event.
“I think the best way to do that is build it ourselves, with the help of the right people in the community.”
Mackay will host an event as part of both the Rumble on the Reef festival and the Hydrofoil Pro Tour.
With the massive Eungella-Finch Hatton mountain biking trails in development, plus rumours of other sporting developments, Fraser said there was a strong possibility Rumble on the Reef would continue to expand.
Other sports have already been in touch about getting involved.
“We don’t want to overload it this year, but we potentially have downhill longboarding and a lot of other sports who have wanted to get involved,” Fraser said.
“Any of those sports that run around (the time of the competition) could go on the schedule.
“Once we get settled we could bring in motorsport and all the other sports you have here and package it into one hectic week.”
Fraser said collaboration from several organisations was what helped the event grow substantially.
“I think the best thing we’ve done is not try to take everything on ourselves. We got great people to look after each event,” he said.
“The name Rumble on the Reef isn’t skate-based. When we were picking it we were looking at where it could go in the future.”
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