A runner has been allegedly assaulted after two young boys who nearly hit her on a dirt bike turned for a second pass of the woman on the Fernleigh Track in a brazen attack at the weekend.
Newcastle resident Rose - who asked for only her first name to be published out of concern for safety - told the Newcastle Herald she was at Whitebridge, about 8km into a long-planned run along the length of the track about 3.30pm on Sunday when a dirt bike tore past her.
She said the handlebars brushed her arm.
The two boys on the bike, believed to be about 12 and 14 years old, apologised for the close call and took off.
"They were going so quick, like these dirt bikes can go fast," she said on Tuesday.
"If I'd have turned around and put my foot wrongly, they would have knocked me over at speed."
But the bike soon returned and as the boys passed Rose from behind, one of them hit her hard on the buttocks with his hand.
The pair stopped ahead of her and laughed.
When Rose pulled out her phone to take their picture, they fled.
"Obviously they knew what they'd done," Rose said.
"There was no-one else on that section of the track at that point and I didn't know how many of them there was and whether they were going to come back so I phoned the police because I felt unsafe."
After making the initial report to police immediately following the assault, Rose said she was told an officer would visit her later that day to take a statement, but that did not eventuate.
When she followed up and had to repeat the story of the attack a second time, she was asked to come in to Newcastle police station on Monday, where she said she had to recount the ordeal a third time.
She took to social media to warn others after she felt her report had not been acted on soon enough.
"I was worried that maybe these kids would do it to [assault] another female," Rose told the Herald.
"I was hoping to spread the word a bit, so if it happens to another female, they don't feel the same way I did and they feel like they can report it."
Public safety on the 16km Fernleigh Track has been a long-running issue.
In late 2022, 85-year-old Greg Hood was seriously injured after he was allegedly run off his pushbike by two people riding either e-bikes or small motorbikes.
Mr Hood died while still in hospital being rehabilitated for his injuries nine months later.
Meanwhile, illegal use of dirt bikes has been an ongoing problem for police across the region.
The Herald reported earlier this month on a case where a group of riders was spotted travelling erratically - doing wheelies and jumping grass verged - on Turton Road at Broadmeadow.
It came after a three-year-old girl was hit when an unregistered motorbike careened through the middle of a children's park at Raymond Terrace.
Police confirmed the Fernleigh Track incident was being investigated and asked for anyone with relevant information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
