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Brett Withington is a good bloke . Tall , athletic and a keen hockey player as well as a keen biker , he exudes a can-do attitude , and always find time to talk to anybody . It hasn ’ t always been like that though . A while back , he found himself battling a wall of personal and situational problems , just stuff that most of us experience from time to time , and wasn ’ t feeling good about things , or himself .
So , while waiting for his new bike to turn up , he went along to an open day at House of Motorcycles ( HoM ), a local retailer . There were a bunch of other riders there - all strangers . And they were talking bikes , talking stuff , just enjoying the moment ; Brett joined in . At the end of that day , he thought “ there has got to be more of this .” It was , he says , just bloody good mental health .
“ When I went home , I realised that there are probably loads of other people out there who would , like me , benefit from spending time together doing something enjoyable , meeting people , making friends and dicking about with bikes ,” he tells us .
But just going along to bike meets wasn ’ t enough for Brett . He decided he would organise the best , most open and enjoyable bike meet there could be . A meet for everybody .
“ I wanted to bring that feeling I had when I went to HoM ,” he says .
“ I reckoned there would be plenty of people , and their families , that would really appreciate the opportunity to go and hang out with bike people , as a new thing . And to talk ,” he adds . That ’ s how the idea of SPOKE took root , back in 2021 . Brett was right . There were lots of people who wanted to just hang and do bike stuff with other bikers ; when he opened the gates to this year ’ s SPOKE there were hundreds of them rolling into the open paddocks of the Mayfield Estate , next to the gorgeous smooth sands of Mayfield Beach , on Tasmania ’ s stunning East Coast .
Held over three days in autumn , SPOKE 2024 was the third event held at Mayfield , planned to bring all sorts of bikers together for a weekend of riding and people and bikes – and talk .
Hundreds of trailers , utes , vans , tents and just men and women and kids on bikes descended on Mayfield in March , set up camp on the huge beachside property and had a ball . Kids were everywhere , riding bikes , climbing on hay bales , and having fun , while visitors like Jass from New South Wales came to race .
“ I built my bike from bits two years ago , but never got to race it because of COVID ,” he explains . “ So , coming to SPOKE and getting to do real beach racing like Burt Monroe did is a dream come true .”
Withington says that when he first put the event together three years ago , he wanted to offer something that was all about bikes but wasn ’ t just for riders .
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