Tony Tucknott has described his recent Order of Australia medal for services to mountain biking as a “massive surprise” after he was nominated by his longtime business partner Dave Budge and cycling luminary and ex-pro Murray Hall.
But a cursory look at his long list of achievements reveals nothing surprising about an award that has been met with widespread acclaim from the West Australian MTB scene and broader bike riding community.
From his energy and expertise in course routing, logistics and development in now-internationally recognised events like the Dwellingup 100 and Cape2Cape, to his endless advocacy for bike riding across disciplines, Tony’s new medal is well earned.
“When I received an email about it I actually thought it was a scam,” Tony told us this week. “I didn’t know Dave and Murray had nominated me. I must say I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with the support that’s been coming in, I was glad to be out routing the day it was announced and have some time to reflect on it. But it’s been wonderful, it’s such a great community and it really is a great honour.”
WA: An amazing place to ride offroad
The ex-motorbike racer who fell in love with mountain biking says kicking the Dwellingup 100 into life in 2009 and seeing it evolve into an event that in 2023 played host the Mountain Bike Marathon Masters World Championship is probably the jewel in his offroad crown.
“It took a few years to pull together,” he reflects. “I’d been doing a lot of riding down there and knew it’s incredible potential to host a world class event so I went to Dave Budge because he knew about putting events on and the rest is history. It’ll be the 17th year this year. And to see the way Dwellingup has developed as a MTB hub is fantastic.”
Pemberton is another spectacular part of the state he has been gratified to see develop into a space where high profile MTB and cyclocross events take place, not to mention the Perth Hills and beyond.
“You can go around the world and come home and soon realise we have some pretty special MTB infrastructure here,” the Ravensthorpe resident says.
“The Munda Biddi gets a lot of glory but there are so many great MTB destinations in this state. It’s a shame some events are struggling because of the rising event management costs, but the gravel world champs coming to Nannup next year is brilliant for the state and the offroad scene.”
