Vale Gillian Duncan

One of Australia’s mountain biking trailblazers has passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Gillian Duncan, 66, died earlier this week at her home in Brisbane.

Her mountain bike career began in 2000 when she joined the Southside Rats club as secretary, treasurer, and race organizer.

In 2004, she was the Queensland State representative of Mountain Bike Australia before she became the first elected president of the organization in 2006, a role she held for three years.

Gillian was involved at all levels at MTBA from organizing races, coaching courses, and also writing the initial club and national commissaire policy.

But her greatest motivation was building sustainable trails as part of the Gap Creek Trail Care Alliance which allowed the sport to flourish.

Gillian was a tireless advocate to land managers in South East Queensland and soon became a beacon of hope in the early days of MTB, facilitating access to public land all around Australia.

Her years of tireless physical and mental work to initiate trail care programs with councils contributed to mountain biking co-existing with other recreational activities in areas such as Daisy Hill, Mount Coot-tha and Gap Creek in Brisbane, where she has a trail named after her.

Gillian led by example whether it was with a tool in hand at trail maintenance days to ensure their upkeep to international standards, or with a pen at the ready as an author.

In 2003 she published the seminal guide "Where to mountain bike in SE Queensland" a task which saw her single-handedly gather all data and maps.

The guide has been a great success and is now in its 6th edition.

She was, without a doubt, an innovator for women in mountain bike.

Gillian was a mentor for female MTB’ers all over Australia and was inducted as a life member to MTBA – now AusCycling - in 2020.

The “Godmother of Mountain Biking” will be sorely missed but her legacy to the sport will be remembered for a long time to come.

The AusCycling community sends its deepest sympathies to all her family and her many friends around the nation.

Photos supplied by Gillian Duncan