FIRST ROUND OF GRANTS AWARDED FROM THE SCOTTISH TRAIL FUND!

Thanks to the kind donations from the Scottish mountain bike community, the trustees of the Scottish Cycling Foundation (SCF)* with the support of the staff team in Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) and Scottish Cycling have now awarded circa £5500 to trails associations, local groups and communities across Scotland following a heavily oversubscribed application process.

The awards have been made for a variety of items such as insurance payments, tools, first aid kits, PPE, and funded placements on the DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leader course training.

Fiona Cockburn, Trustee of the Scottish Cycling Foundation said; ‘The SCF is the official charity of Scottish Cycling and supports the future of cycle sport in Scotland. We are delighted to now be able to make the first awards from the Scottish Trail Fund. This is precisely why we set up a charitable foundation to be able to provide different sources of income leading to improvements for cyclists across Scotland. Thank you to all the groups that took the time to apply and for their work and passion in improving trails across the country.'

The Scottish Trail Fund and the grant making process has been administered and supported by the staff of DMBinS and Scottish Cycling who made recommendations to the trustees of the Scottish Cycling Foundation (OSCR NO. SC051130) for approval.

Graeme McLean, Head of DMBinS added; ‘It has been incredibly difficult to choose the successful award recipients, as this first round of awards was so oversubscribed. The high number of applicants proves that the demand is there from groups who are keen to support and improve their trail networks but need financial support to do so.’

‘We know the impact that trails associations and groups are making to the trails across Scotland and we believe that the Scottish Trail Fund will play a large part in helping groups set up, gain landowner approval, and help build the practical resources that will build and maintain a sustainable trail network across Scotland.'

We are so grateful to the riders who already donate monthly to the Scottish Trail fund, but we hope that sharing the positivity that comes with these awards we can encourage more riders to get involved and donate. If one thousand riders signed up to donate the price of a coffee a month, it would build this fund now and into the future and the benefits across the Scottish trail network would be incredible.’

Pete Scullion, Bike Trossachs Trail Association said; ‘We were super pleased to hear that our application to the Scottish Trail Fund had been successful. This award will allow us to buy new tools and will mean that two of our volunteers will be trained up as DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leaders which will allow us to run more dig sessions and encourage more riders to join in with our monthly dig days as we work towards our goal of adopting and maintaining the trails in Aberfoyle.’

The full list of the trails associations/groups, and their geographic region, who have received funding from the Scottish Trail Fund in 2024 are as follows:

• Ae Bike Association, Dumfries & Galloway
• Barr Bikes, Aryshire
• Bike Trossachs, Aberfoyle and Trossachs
• Castlemilk Youth Complex, Glasgow
• Galloway Hillbillies Bike Club, Dumfries & Galloway
• Highland Wildcat Ltd, Golspie, North Highland
• Moray MTB Club, Moray
• North Argyll Trail Association (under Adventure Oban), Argyll & Bute
• Trail Wild MTB, Edinburgh

• The SCF is the official charity of Scottish Cycling

• The SCF supports the future of cycle sport in Scotland
• The SCF drives positive change for cycling in Scotland, be that by enhancing key projects or removing barriers to participation.
• The SCF delivers, in collaboration with Scottish Cycling, impactful projects and benefits through its Scottish MTB Health Fund, Scottish Trail Fund and Braveheart Performance Fund.
• It seeks and secures funding from a range of sources
• The charity has, and continues, to develop and deliver a programme of fundraising events and activities to deliver impactful programmes and raise awareness of its positive impact

We know that individual Trails Associations do a great job at raising funds within local communities. The Scottish Trail Fund provides additional support to these groups by providing finances - particularly towards tools, trail building and first aid courses, and insurance for them to carry out work.

Perhaps as valuably, we provide strategic support including managing national relationships, raising the profile of Scottish mountain biking to Scottish Government, Local Authorities and other key stakeholders, lobby for increased capital investment and create the eco-system which allows more trails to be legally built and maintained across Scotland.

The Scottish Trail Fund aims to;

• Protect and enhance our natural environment

• Develop and maintain an accessible & varied trail network across Scotland

To do this we:

• Support Trail Associations and local riders/trail builders across the country– encouraging trail stewardship and advocacy
• Fund volunteer trail building courses – creating leaders to run trail building and maintenance sessions across Scotland
• Fund first aid courses for volunteers
• Lobby for increased investment into the Scottish trail network
• Fund trail development projects to be ‘shovel-ready’ for capital investment
• Work with landowners and land managers to resolve any disagreements and work with them to get more trails in the right places
• Match your donation with at least 50% from public and private sector sources to grow the trail network in Scotland
• Support projects through the process of applying for funding through the Cycling Facilities Fund and other funding sources
• Support and promote trail crowdfunding projects
• Promote riding in Scotland to a global audience to increase the economic impact of our sport to our country