The Scottish Mountain Bike Awards 2024 - The Shortlists!

Without trails, there is no mountain biking. The incredible, varied and world famous trail network that exists across Scotland is pretty awesome, but so are the people, projects and communities that support them. With these awards we hope to celebrate our trail network and those people who work so hard behind the scenes. These are the 2024 shortlist for our Trails Awards.

Aberdeenshire Trail Association

Tayside Trail Association

Trail Wild MTB

Tweed Valley Trail Association

Banchory Woodland - Trail development for all abilities for the Banchory community.

Dreamline at Glassie Bike Park - A dream like collaboration and part of the ongoing development plans at Glassie.

Glentress Masterplan Trails - The high level project brief was to re-install Glentress as the UK's no.1 trail centre. This was to be achieved by creating a suite of trails that were both inclusive and progressive, while giving riders of the Tweed Valley the kinds of flowing bike park trails that they've been missing out on for many years.

Flat White - The re Imagineering of a much loved Golfie trail.

Brian Mackie - 'Brian is a stalwart of the Aberdeenshire MTB community. He gives up countless hours to volunteer with the ATA, builds tools to maintain the trail network, sits on the ATA committee and attends local events to spread the word of the ATA. He also organises training for the volunteers, attends/leads digs and supports wherever is needed.'

Gael Carlier - 'As Trail lead for Pitfichie Gael has along with Gareth Wright organised and lead the maintenance and development of the Hill. He and Gareth were also greatly involved with the Aberdeenshire Trail Academy introducing young trail builders to hands on trail building. He is a active committee member and helped at promotional and fundraising events such as Thrive.'

Emma Holgate - 'Emma is the chair of the Badenoch and Strathspey Trails Association, over the last year they have been working to develop new trails and refresh some existing classics in the Cairngorms National Park. The trail work has all been conducted in environmentally sensitive areas and there has been additional thought and effort gone into the work to help not only provide improved riding experiences but also to enhance the environment for the protection and enhancement of all species including the endangered Capercaillie. The work BASTA, led by Emma, has been a part of was recently awarded the 'Best Project to Tackle Climate Change and Environmental Issues' at the European Network of Outdoor Sports Awards held in Italy in September 2024. This European recognition for the fantastic work by BASTA and partners is testament to the work of Emma, and the whole crew in BASTA.'

Sophie Clark Williams - 'Soph is the ATA's tech guru, trail mapper, health and safety goddess and is great at gently poking people with her virtual stick to ensure the ATA keeps running smooth. Nothing is too big or too small and without her working CONSTANTLY behind the scenes, things just wouldn't have progressed at the high level they have for the ATA. We owe her a lot.'

There are so many good people, projects, organisations and groups working tirelessly across many aspects of Scottish mountain biking. We want to celebrate that with these awards.

Brian Mackie - BMac gives every bit of his free time to helping trail crews across Aberdeenshire. He sits on the ATA committee and heads up our Health and Safety department, organizing training and sorting out our tools. He is a steady presence, gentle and reliable, providing fun and structure to any dig day or trail inspection. He constantly goes over the top to attend digs, events and conferences to collect knowledge (prizes) and support the cause.

Gareth Wright - With his large personality and social media presence Gareth attracts people to get out and ride. He is the first to ask “are you riding” in the many WhatsApp groups he has setup. He’s a very active member of the ATA and the Trail Academy. Often taking the lead on dig days or committee meetings he gets things done and is a great advocate for the sport.

Emily Greaves - Emily has been an inspiration to people for years. She is a coach, Guide, and trail therapy practitioner. Outwith this she runs the Rise and Grind weekly rides every Thursday morning. This year she took on her biggest challenge - completing the ht550. She juggled training with a full time job and raising her children. She put everything into the ride and will inspire so many more women to take on challenges in the future. Emily puts her heart and soul into everything she does. She is an amazing role model, especially for women and girls.

Aaron Gray - A consistent long term contribution to the trail network as a volunteer trail builder, trail association leader and all round helper. Aaron has also planned, organised and delivered some of the best MTB events in Scotland over the past few years, many of which brought new riders into the sport, brought business to our communities and always fun for riders.

Aaron was key in bringing together the Tayside Trail Association. He has been instrumental in the creation, development and maintenance of some of the regions best loved trails. Aaron has created a momentum and enthusiasm for bikes for riders of all ages through his events that has fostered the sport not only in our region but beyond.

Aaron is an all round good guy, Someone who we are extremely lucky to have in the MTB Community.

Robyn Wilkinson - 'Robyn always turns up to help at group rides, events and activities with amazing levels of enthusiasm, encouragement and support. When everyone else is tired and struggling, she's dancing, being silly and making people feel comfortable to also find their energy and motivation through being daft. She never makes an issue of whether riders have a disability or not, she just gets stuck in with whatever needs to be done and then moves on. She's an absolute powerhouse when it comes to showing handcycles up and over obstacles and never makes people feel like a burden. She's been an all round amazing volunteer team member with ARC since the beginning and is an amazing advocate for the MTB world as a whole.'

Callum McCubbing - 'He maybe the man who runs the bike shop at Ae, but he's more than that. Behind the scenes he's been central to supporting many event organisers with the creation of many race courses and getting his hands dirty to make these events happen. Significant ones include the Mini DH as part of the Experience the Worlds, CWC in 2023 and British Enduro Champs 2024. Callum is one who just goes about quietly behind getting things done. Nothing is ever too much bother for him. Always open to discuss options and comes up with ideas. Callum has been focal in helping Ae Bike Association set up engaging and working with FLS. The relationship they have as a club with FLS has been built on good foundations over the years which Callum has been instrumental in. Despite having 2 very young children, a wife, helping his dad out harvesting he still makes time to help. If you were to talk about well kept secrets then Callum and what he does is one of them. He's a star.'

Gael Carlier - 'Gael sits on the ATA committee, is in charge of the finance, and also gives his time to leading all the digs, inspections and trail academy work at Pitfichie forest. This summer he brought his work company out on a corporate dig day to introduce them to trail maintenance, and give a little bit back to the trail network system.'

Gareth Wright - 'Gareth leads of fundraising, events, social media, and general support and role modelling to the troops. He supports Gael in the running of Pitfichie'

'Gael and Gareth give so much of their time to help plan, maintain and develop Pitfichie's Trail Network. Events that run here such as DTB and SES have a lot to thanks to the two individuals, who give up an enormous amount of their free time in order to ensure the trails not only run sweet, but that the network is developed, trails are ready for races (and then repaired and ready for everyone else to use the trails after a race!) and that digs days are well planned and everyone is looked after. They also volunteer marshall for events at the venue to support in anyway they can.'

Ian Seaward - 'Ian has been volunteering for MTB events for years. He is probably the senior Enduro Marshall for DTB always taking the highest and coldest start gate. He is a regular volunteer at maintenance days at Tarland Trails and the ATA dig days.'

MissAdventures - MissAdventures has been a community group since 2021 and its aim is to widen the participation of girls in mountain biking - we know that clubs locally struggle to hold on to girls and especially as they hit their teenage years so we want to ensure that girls are still keeping on riding at this important stage of life and transitions into adulthood. A big part of this work is around building confidence and teamwork through providing opportunities to go on exciting adventures and experience the escape of staying in a bothy away from phone signal and no one to judge. Girls struggle with body image and hygiene so this provides a real opportunity to feel like they are in true wilderness and not to worry about what we look like or who is judging. This has led us to running bike packing trips being a significant part of our work with this year working alongside 5 schools across the country to create these unique opportunities for girls.

ParkRide + Bairns on Bikes - ParkRide was created by Beth and Kerry behind Gravelfoyle events. Kerry has been a high performance racer and Beth is a busy Mum of 2 who came to riding later and currently squeezes it in around children. Quite the chalk and cheese in our riding approaches. We recognised that whilst we organise the most inclusive races going (we were the first event organisers to run an adaptive cycle category alongside non-adaptives), we weren't doing enough to open our off-road world up to very new riders and families. We have already existing infrastructure by way of our way-marked gravel trails (10km,20km and 30km loops) and emulated the ParkRun model by offering riders the opportunity to do the 10km or 20km loop. We also included a sweeper rider in each distance to offer mechanical support and reassurance. Furthermore, we ran 'Bairns on Bikes' coaching session at the same time so Mums, Dads and carers could drop their children off and go and ride. We had many families, kids on shot-gun or trailers, e-bikers and a huge spread of ages and abilities participate in our 6 week pilot which we're now running monthly. It was incredible! People travelled as far as Edinburgh just to participate. whilst gravel is still grey in terms of where it sits, it is 100% old school mtb!

Socialtrack - Socialtrack has been operating from 2018 and was formed to support the Wishawhill Wood Pump Track. Starting from a garage and from the roots of the Wishaw Mountain Biking Club Socialtrack went on to help host the 2019 Red Bull UK Qualifier for the World Pump Track Championships. But not likely to rest on past glories Socialtrack knew it had a task on it’s hands in tackling youth poverty in the post industrial towns of Wishaw, Motherwell and Bellshill. That’s when the work began! With a strong belief in what mountain biking and cycling could achieve in increasing opportunity out of poverty as well as all the good stuff for physical and mental health. Socialtrack started working in schools, advocating for more trails in rural areas as well as pump tracks and importantly increased access to mountain biking.

The FNY Collective Women's Winter MTB Programme - This project has come from support from the Community Cycling Fund, Scottish Borders off the back of the success of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. The event created a real appetite for mountain biking and we wanted to give women who are new to or curious about mountain biking an opportunity to get involved and have fun with what we do! The FNY Collective have been running events for women in MTB for a number of years and we have built a strong community of riders in the Tweed Valley with women joining us from all around the country.

We are blessed in Scotland with so many exceptional mountain bike destinations. Superb hospitality, welcoming accommodation and of course, an incredible trail network that is appreciated by visitors from across the world. These awards celebrate this and highlight the best of the best around the country.

Cleikum Mill Lodge, Innerleithen

Glassie Bike Park Bunkhouse

The Boat Inn, Aboyne

McTrail Rider

Street Pigeon MTB

Laura Jane and Wee Tam

Dialled In Coaching

Trail Wild MTB

RideOut Coaching

57 North Adventures

PUBLIC VOTE AND WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY

With Scottish riders performing outstandingly on the world stage and mountain bike clubs continuing their awesome work in cementing the joy of riding in all ages and stages, this is a tough category.

Falkirk Junior Bike Club (FJBC) - 'FJBC was established in 2016 to provide opportunities for Children and Young People from across Falkirk to experience the sport of cycling and has made huge strides since then. We are a club focused on delivering fun and engaging sessions to our participants. We welcome Children as soon as they are able to ride independently, and support riders to progress whatever their aspirations are. We’re determined to ensure that our sport becomes more reflective of society as a whole, and we deliver a wide range of community programmes designed to do just that. Our two primary areas of focus are tackling poverty and improving gender balance by targeted work to increase the number of girls participating. Our efforts to reduce inequality and ensure that people experience less barriers to their participation in cycling is delivered through a number of programmes: free bikes for Children who can’t afford them, School Holiday programmes where we provide free coaching sessions alongside free lunches, and focused work looking at how we can give more young people the opportunity to experience different disciplines of cycling.'

Tay Titans - 'Our Club Constitution Mission Statement is "Getting Perthshire’s children active on their bikes, and championing the attitudes and skills fundamental to progression and success in competitive cycling" and although this is still very much the ethos we follow however we are also very aware that not all kids want to race or be competitive, many just enjoy getting out and riding their bikes with their friends and this is something that we encourage strongly whilst also trying to make things like developing skills and learning trail etiquette fun! We aim to actively support children with neurodiverse conditions such as autism by enabling one of their parents to join them in their group in a supportive role whilst actively encouraging these parents to attain their MBLA2 award.

Scottia Off Road Team - The principal aim of SORT is to provide a development pathway for young Scottish offroad riders into the top levels of the sport. The dropout rates in youth and junior sport are enormous because there is a minimal support environment for young talent within Scottish mountain biking scene. We aim to bridge that gap. As such, SORT offers a focused and supportive community for young athletes to train, compete and develop together, with a friendly social network to allow our young athletes to manage the pressure of their sport alongside school, exams and other teenage stress. SORT is volunteer-led race focused mountain bike team formed in late 2022. We believe we have a unique model in offroad cycling in the UK. In Scotland and more widely in UK there is a clear pathway for road riders with an established network of youth and junior road teams. There is no similar pathway for offroad racers. Our model is to try to combine the community approach of a club with the support mechanisms of a pro-race team.

Hervelo - Hervélo cycling club is based in Edinburgh and the Lothians and was set up in 2010. It was started by enthusiastic women who wanted to share their love of cycling. The club has always been predominantly women led and continues to have a women + focus. From day one the club was aimed at all forms of cycling and ran regular rides. We continue to have a strong commitment to encouraging all abilities, including those new and those returning/continuing in the sport. We currently have 62 members in the club, with approximately 15 new members this year. The club has flourished this year with more rides than ever being organised. We began with a commitment to one mountain bike ride per fortnight on a Thursday night and a monthly, longer ride at the weekend. Due to the enthusiasm and increase in leaders over the year, this has changed to a weekly night ride most Thursdays and twice monthly weekend rides.

Black Isle Mountain Bike Club - As a club we run throughout the year which makes us different! Especially in the Highlands of Scotland! We run throughout the winter in the dark on trails we are familiar with as well as throughout the summer light nights. This makes us quite unique to other clubs in the area and develops the resilience of our riders as well as offering them another aspect of riding which they love as well as appreciating our great outdoors at night! We are a volunteer run club and keep our club fees to a minimum to make the experience as affordable as possible. We value our seniors too and have been developing them as young leaders who now help and assist in taking out the younger groups. This allows them to gain experience in leadership and develop transferable skills that will be beneficial to them as they progress. Several of these young leaders took part and passed their first aid with us recently. We have been closely involved with our local trail association and have held dig days resulting in a brand new trail that we have since used for our first official mini DH race which was a huge success! We also host an annual Funduro event (It's not a real race! Just for fun!) and involve our other local club in a bit of friendly competitiion! This goes down a storm especially with our younger riders, for most of them this is their first taste of racing with proper number boards too!

Dirt Divas Mountain Bike and Gravel Festival

FJBC Double Trouble

Limitlass

Thrive Festival

WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE AWARD CEREMONY