Trails – 2024 Roundup

For riders, we hope you can engage and volunteer in the trail network and, if you can, contribute to the Scottish Trail Fund, details of the first rounds of awards are below and we can see that this fund is helping our work spread across the whole of Scotland. This is essential if we are to help secure a sustainable future for our trail network for years to come.

‘Trails’ are the cornerstone of all mountain bike development and is the largest area of work across all of themes in the Strategy for Scottish Mountain Biking, 2023-25.

For the 2024 round up of our work across Scotland we have grouped the activity across different geographic regions of Scotland. We hope this will help you understand the activity that we have been supporting in a region where you live or an area you care about. If you have the time though we hope reading the whole blog will help you understand the work we support across Scotland.

The areas we can make the biggest difference within are those with local investment into regional co-ordinators, currently Aberdeenshire and Scottish Borders. These roles are entirely funded by local partners, for Aberdeenshire this is from Opportunity North East and Aberdeenshire Council, and in the Scottish Borders, it is through the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund ran by Scottish Borders Council.

If other regions, or Local Authorities, would like to accelerate their investment into mountain biking then we would be delighted to discuss further with them.

As a special note, we would like to extend our thanks to our colleague Ruari Watt, the Highland Co-ordinator, who left DMBinS in 2024 as we were unfortunately unable to secure further funding to continue his role.

His full impact is documented in the project report (to be released early 2025) however you can see the impact he had with communities, partners, and trails associations across the Highlands in the regional section below.

We would like to thank Ruari for his expertise, dedication to the role and mountain biking, and for being a great colleague. We wish him all the best in the future.

The vision for the Banchory Woodland Trails project came around 10 years ago as it was recognised that young riders in particular would benefit from quality, accessible, purpose built mountain bike trails would give them somewhere to be active and socialise on bikes.

Deeside Bike Collective (SCIO) was formed, planning permission gained and an FCS community asset transfer negotiated for the preferred site at Corsee Woods at the western edge of the town.

DMBinS, through the North East Adventure Tourism (NEAT) project, has provided support, guidance, and helped Deeside Bike Collective secure funding. This included £100,000 of funding from the Cycling Facilities Fund (CFF) which is a fund jointly administered by sportscotland, Scottish Cycling, and DMBinS.

The funding has helped create three trails Dee-Lite, Dee-Send and Dee-Line and a starter skills zone offer suitability to complete beginners all the way through to experienced riders and those who enjoy ‘big air’.

The trails provide progression on berms and different sized drops and jumps. To further promote inclusivity the core path and Blue trail Dee-Lite are suitable for adaptive bikes and has a half way access point to introduce less experienced riders.

The trails provide many volunteering opportunities, particularly in trail maintenance and engaging trails for provide local cycling clubs and coaching groups such as Deeside Thistle, Ride in Peace Adventures and Deeside MTB a quality venue allowing them to flourish.

It is another exciting facility that supports the growing mountain biking scene in Aberdeenshire leading to increased participation and also increased tourism to the area helping local hospitality and retail industries.

With a growing network of unmanaged trails in Scotland, it is important that the mountain bike community and landowners and managers, work together to understand the nature of mountain bike trails, their impact and collaboratively create management plans in order to sustain, maintain and develop the network.

In Aberdeenshire, DMBinS through the North East Adventure Tourism (NEAT) project, are working with Aberdeenshire Trails Association (ATA) and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) to develop sustainable trail plans.

The trail plans are based on an audit of the existing trails that provides an evidence base of the trails within the network. This will help establish how ATA and FLS could improve the management of the current network of trails, highlighting hazards, mitigations and work plans and also identify opportunities for new trails or supporting infrastructure, such as, car parks.

The next stage of the trail plans will be to gather more collaborative input from the mountain bike community, coaches, guides and event organisers to understand their use of the forest, along with other users of the forests. This will further be combined with land management plans to deliver an enhanced, fair and equitable long term work plan to support the creation of a sustainable, suitable and secure trail network for the region.

The lessons from this pilot will then be introduced with other landowners in Aberdeenshire and will form the basis of new internal guidance for FLS staff to help the management of trails across Scotland.

DMBinS/NEAT have been working both directly and, with sportscotland and Scottish Cycling through the Cycling Facilities Fund (CFF), have been providing advice and supporting community groups to secure funding for pump tracks across Aberdeenshire.

2024 saw the launch of four new pump tracks at Ellon, Alford, Peterhead, and Huntly. A new pump track will also open in Peterhead in early 2025.

In Ellon, the pump track is part of a wider cycling facility which also includes a closed road training loop and has been developed by Ellon Wheel Park (SCIO 52816). The facility was funded by CFF, Aberdeenshire Council, and local businesses and community organisations.

The Alford pump track and all-abilities trail has been developed by the Friends of Haughton Park (SCIO 50146). The facility was funded by CFF, Aberdeenshire Council, and local businesses and community organisations.

The Peterhead pump tracks have been developed by Peterhead Community Trust (PACT) with funding from CFF and Aberdeenshire Council through their Place Based Investment Plans.

In Huntly, the Greenmyres pump track was opened in June 2024. The track has been developed by the Huntly Development Trust. DMBinS/NEAT have helped Huntly Development Group secure £450,000 for a pump track and a wider site development project incorporating changing rooms and improving their water sports provision.

Aberdeen City and Shire have done well as an area from CFF however it was an area with a large community, strong bike clubs, good support from local authorities, external partners, and (importantly) it had very few existing facilities.

DMBinS has provided increased level of support for the ATA through the successful recruitment of Fee Wallace as the NEAT Project Co-ordinator (Trails). Through this role Fee has helped support:

• 200+ hours of (specific NEAT supported), volunteer trail maintenance with Aberdeenshire Trail Association

• Permission secured to add to the trail network at Pitfichie

• Links with other trail groups and users to maintain, manage and develop trails within Aboyne

• Aberdeenshire Trail Association were awarded £1000 from Thrive Festival in recognition of good and sustained work in the area.

When Tarland Trails opened in 2023 it was recognised that there would be a need to continually evolve and improve the trail centre, and that this would be supported through the partnership between Tarland Development Group, DMBinS/NEAT, and funders.

In its opening year the partnership helped secure a further £200k for a new blue graded trail ‘Rip Tide’ and ground works which means the site has water and other services at its disposal.

In total, over the last 18 months the partnership has helped Tarland Development Group secure £1.4million to help establish Tarland, and Aberdeenshire, as a premier mountain bike destination. (Running total which includes with Drummy Woods and Pittenderich). Read more about DMBinS/NEAT work at Tarland and across Aberdeenshire.

Trail Academy: Aberdeenshire was a pilot project that ran for 5 sessions over the month of June 2024, for a group of students aged 12-18 from Aberdeenshire, who mountain bike and have been, or have a desire to, build and maintain mountain bike trails.

The project offered them a chance to engage in an industry led trail building academy programme and begin to increase knowledge and skills around trail building, provide insight into the process behind authorised trail building projects.

The project also focused on, highlighting the importance of positive landowner and community relationships, and looking at how to build mountain bike trails in areas where there are protected species and other environmental sensitivities.

The project was led by DMBinS/NEAT with support from CRC Trails, Aberdeenshire Trail Association and The Cairngorm Capercaillie Project.

Coaches and trail builders were selected based on their knowledge, experience and reputation within the trail building industry. The sessions utilised the trail network at different locations across the region, offering a range of terrain, skills requirements and teaching opportunities.

With the pilot project concluded and evaluated, DMBinS/NEAT are investigating running the Trail Academy again both in Aberdeenshire, and ideally, in other areas of Scotland.

The Tweed Valley Trails Association (TVTA), supported by DMBinS Scottish Borders Trail Co-ordinator – Marc Crowley, decided that a much-loved trail, Flat White could do with a complete refresh.

The refresh was over a year in the making, with over 3000 hours invested, over 100 individuals involved, only one corner on the whole trail not touched, 19 public digs, numerous private dig sessions and epic efforts from the BASE students - it really has been a labor of love for the many involved.

Our Marc coordinated the vast majority of public digs and exerted a herculean effort over the year on the ground. If he wasn't at his desk sorting permissions and doing the ‘boring’ work behind the scenes, he was digging.

The trail is now more sustainable, better to ride, and those berms are awesome! Good things happen when good people work together. Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, there is now another epic Valley trail offering.

The refresh has resulted in a six fold increase in visitor numbers with over 1000 rider runs on numerous days since Flat White reopened.

A key area of DMBinS work in the Scottish Borders is utilising mountain bike trail building and maintenance to develop skills, knowledge, and experience in young people.

In 2024, we worked with young people, under the supervision of social workers or teachers in schools to provide trail building experiences and provide insight in potential career opportunities in construction or adventure tourism sectors. The feedback from the sessions has been really positive with reports of improved attendance and behaviour in classes.

We are keen that alongside providing work experiences (2 placements in 2024) there is the opportunity for young people to develop a qualification in areas of mountain biking that are likely to lead to improve job prospects. To this end, we are working with Peebles High School and the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) on rating and approval for the design and delivery of a Nat 5/Higher level Special Award in MTB which will feature modules in Trail Building, MTB Leadership, Bike Mechanics, First Aid, and Riding Skills.

The DMBinS team has engaged with 8 secondary schools across Scottish Borders to ensure positive uptake of award when ready for delivery. We also delivered a DIRTT course to Eyemouth High School students and teachers as part of a plan to facilitate a community led trail build adjacent to the school.

Due to spiralling costs for insurance we worked in partnership with Hawick Pump Track to redevelop their facility management paperwork, including their health and safety documentation. This resulted in them being provided with a quote that was 50% cheaper than their previous best quotes.

Working with colleagues in Scottish Cycling and sportscotland through the Cycling Facilities Fund (CFF) we helped support the launch of a new pump track at Walkerburn, developed in a partnership between the Walkerburn Community Council and Scottish Borders Council, and the build of a new pump track in Stow which will open in 2025, developed by Stow Community Trust. Both new facilities have been funded and supported by Scottish Borders Council.

In October 2023, the new trails as part of the Glentress Masterplan were launched to positive reviews. The trails were instantly exceptionally busy and combined with the adverse weather in late 2023 and throughout 2024, the trails were in need of an increased maintenance regime.

We organised regular meetings between ourselves and FLS who, in fairness, were aware of the need for increased maintenance, as a result FLS changed internal shift patterns to restart the Glentress Trailfairies and have increased the amount of professional maintenance of the trails through contractors.

Several trails, particularly at the Golfie and Innerleithen, have been impacted by increased levels of harvesting over 2024. The impact of this has been mitigated by compromise, where the majority of trails have been able to remain open at weekend and the addition of chainsaw work to help reopen Feed The Pony the week harvesting in that area completed.

It is highly likely that businesses, particularly those in Innerleithen, would have felt very serious economic challenges without this intervention.

Through the work of the Scottish Borders Trail Co-ordinator, TVTA now have an improved relationship with FLS, this has enabled our Marc to implement bespoke signage in Caberston Forest (Golfie). This signage on TVTA adopted trails have QR codes on them which allow riders to donate towards trail maintenance. This increase in funding through these donations has enabled the TVTA to create employment through 2 sub-contracted trail maintenance roles.

In addition, the improved relationship has meant that the TVTA have improved safety on non-adopted trails which is leading to enhanced rider experience and safety for other users in the forests.

This improvement in relationship is further demonstrated by the unsupervised use of trails in Glentress for a DIRTT training course, Scottish MTB Conference trail building workshops and two Women only events.

• Supported a successful application to the Cycling Facilities Fund to create a national level pump track as part of the £7m Rock and Wheels project in Dalbeattie.

• Delivered DIRTT training courses to 17 volunteers and FLS staff at Kirroughtree and Ae which have helped the Galloway Hillbillies to now work autonomously from FLS staff on trails and and Ae Trails Association continue to develop their relationship with FLS to maintain trails at the trail centre.

• Provided extensive feedback into the plans for refreshing the 7stanes trail centre at Dalbeattie. The project is being ran by FLS and has been notionally allocated £4m for capital investment through the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. DMBinS is proud to have played an extensive role in advocating for this investment in previous years.

• Scottish Trail Fund provided £400 funding into Galloway Hillbillies for tools and 6 places on a DIRTT training course and £600 into Ae Trails Association into tools and 2 places on a DIRTT training course.

• Supported a successful application from Bike Trossachs to the Cycling Facilities Fund for a new pump track and skills area

• Working with Bike Trossachs to support a further development of the trail network including increased maintenance and improving the sustainability of the trails

• Through the Scottish Trail Fund, Bike Trossachs were successful in securing £300 for tools and 2 places on the DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leader course.

• Supported a successful application to the Cycling Facilities Fund from Glasgow City Council for an upgrade of the facilities including a new toilet block at the trail head. It is expected that the facility will be built in 2025.

• Working with Castlemilk Youth Complex to further their capacity to run approved dig days/maintenance sessions on the trails.

• Scottish Trail Fund funded CYC with £400 towards tools and 2 places on a DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leader course.

Winner of the ‘Scottish Trail Association 2024’ at the Scottish MTB Awards, we have supported them with site visits, advice, and, through the Scottish Trail Fund, they were awarded £600 and 2 places on the DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leader Course.

• Supported the set up of the Ochil Trail Association by providing advice, agreements from other trails associations, and knowledge sharing.

• Supported a successful application from Clackmananshire Council to the Cycling Facilities Fund for an exciting new set of trails on the foothills of the Ochils on Dumyat Hill. The project is using an innovative model of combining cross local authority support, the trails are in Stirling and the base/main community is in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, working with the Ochil Trails Association, through an agreement with

Supported a successful application from West Dunbartonshire Council to the Cycling Facilities Fund for new beginner, with some progressive features, to be built on the grounds of the Balloch Castle country park.

Two amazing facilities were opened this year. The team at DMBinS would like to extend their thanks to Arran High School and Falkirk Council who were supported by our colleagues at Scottish Cycling to help deliver these amazing facilities.

Ruari, DMBinS Highland Co-ordinator, supported the Badenoch and Strathspey Trail Association (BASTA) led project upgrading the Laggan Black with investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The upgrade was delivered by trail designer Ronan Taylor and helped subtly improve the flow of the trail but retaining the trail characteristics throughout. It rides so well and you don’t even know what has changed (was our experience).

2024 also saw the completion of the significant trail development which was mostly developed in 2023. A new blue section of trail ‘‘Blaeberry flapjack’ was opened in Spring 2024 following construction by CRC Trails. This roller coaster of a final descent will give riders a really fun final descent and an alternative to the more jumpy red ‘Leaping Wolf’.

In 2020, Badenoch and Strathspey Trail Association (BASTA) were offered a place on the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NHLF), with a £100,000 budget for community led capercaillie conservation, supported by DMBinS Highland Development Co-ordinator.

Through the project, BASTA’s aim was to free up 100 hectares of capercaillie, with no net loss in trails. This involved mapping the trail network, and adding layers of information to see where there was potential overlap between trails and sensitive capercaillie habitats.

Through the project, BASTA’s aim was to free up 100 hectares of capercaillie, with no net loss in trails. To compensate for this, BASTA have rerouted sections of trail around sensitive habitats, or closed off little used trails.

In 2024, they opened a new hand built trail in a popular forest next to Aviemore. They have also supported the build of new trails and the upgrade of the black at Laggan Wolftrax (see above), and contracted the renovation of an MTB jump area in Anagach community woodlands in Grantown on Spey. To promote responsible mountain biking in the area, BASTA have created information and signs to be used on line and on the trails, to help riders understand how they can protect capercaillie.

An evaluation of the project demonstrated that over the course of the Cairngorm Capercaillie Project, BASTA have exceeded their 100-hectare target, with over 504 hectares of land made available as potential capercaillie habitat.

The work of BASTA, supported by Ruari and the Cairngorm National Park Authority, were given a significant honour this year when they were awarded the prestigious ‘Best Project to Tackle Climate Change and Environmental Issues’ by the European Network of Outdoor Sports awards in Italy in September 2024. A fitting accolade for a ground breaking and truly innovative approach in combining environmental protection with improving trails for riders.

2024 seen the development of an exciting new trail at Inverness Royal Academy. The trail will help the school club develop and provide a venue for fun racing at the school. It was funded by CFF and Highland Council.

In other ends(ish) of the Highlands two fantastic organisations were recipients of the Scottish Trail Fund. Highland Wildcat, who manage the trails at Golspie, were awarded £300 to help match fund their planned improvements to their trail network and North Argyll Trails Association (NATA) were awarded £600 and 2 place on a DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leader course. DMBinS have also been providing initial support towards their aims of developing more trails in the Oban area.

DMBinS also continue to provide support to the Dunoon Project in their aim to develop a strategic facility in the west of Scotland.

2024 has been a year of preparation for Tayside and Fife. The work has been behind the scenes with several exciting projects being developed with, hopefully, launches in 2025.

These include a new skills area and green adaptive trail at Comrie Croft, a new pump track and skills area at a new community campus in Dundee, and a new pump track for Auchterarder.

DMBinS has also formed a cluster for the Perthshire area to support the development of new projects given the level of interest and the opportunities across Perth City and Perthshire.

After an exciting 12 months, the UK Trails Project today reached an important milestone in 2024 with the release of its first report ‘The Trail – Its People, Place and Time’.

This landmark document presents the results of project manager, David Evans, engagement with members of the mountain bike and land management communities over the last year, with over 2000 survey responses, 8 public workshops, and 30 interviews with key stakeholders across the UK.

‘The Trail’ provides an interesting and informative read for everyone with an interest mountain bike trail provision.

The project will enter its second phase in 2025, focusing on work packages designed to improve trail management processes, educate policymakers on the benefits of mountain biking, and integrate unsanctioned trails into formal networks where possible.

In 2024, DMBinS rolled out the previously piloted ‘DIRTT Volunteer Trail Dig Leader Course’. The course is aimed at people within trails associations who are actively involved in maintaining natural surfaced trails to help them lead others on official trails association dig days.

The tutors trained 33 volunteers in the course in 2024, helping trails associations gain the confidence to obtain permissions from land managers and owners to work on the trails.

There is strong interest for the course across Scotland and 2025 will see many more groups and dig leaders be trained to work on our trails.

Over three days, from November 11th to 13th, at Peel Tower and the TVTA Trails in Innerleithen, 16 trail building leaders and advocates from across Europe participated in a dynamic mix of classroom instruction and hands-on trail work to become DIRTT tutors.

Led by Associate Professor Tom Campbell from Edinburgh Napier University, Tom Cole—a DIRTT tutor and lead designer at CRC Trails—and a support team from DMBinS, participants engaged in an intensive teaching programme. The sessions placed a strong focus on group leadership and developing the tutoring skills of participants so they can effectively teach others about organising dig days, assigning roles, and effectively communicating with landowners to secure necessary permissions.

SRAM funded the delivery of the course and Shimano part-funded the tutors expenses for attending the course.

Graeme, Dave, Fee, Marc, and Emily, along with our colleagues Ed Shoote from South of Scotland Enterprise (lead on the Mountain Bike Innovation Centre in Innerleithen), Prof Geraint Florida-James and Assoc Prof Tom Campbell (both Edinburgh Napier University), and a wider DIRTT group including IMBA Europe and Viken Higher Vocational College were invited to Bentonville, Arkansas, USA. Graeme and Fee’s expenses are being fully paid for by NorthWest Arkansas Community College and Marc, Emily and our friends based in the Scottish Borders were paid for through the UK government's Shared Prosperity Fund.

The trip had many different aims including a crucial first step towards the international levelling of standards for trail building education and certification, global co-ordination of trail building education. The exchanged helped DMBinS position Scotland as a key location for mountain bike trail building education. The aim of this is to begin to develop a clear pathway of education from high school to college to university of trail builder education.

By forming the partnerships through this trip we will work towards creating opportunities for Scottish people, particularly young people, to be able to learn trail building skills and good practices on a global level.

Over the course of the trip discussions were had on best practice for MTB trail building, visits to Bentonville’s cycling innovation centre, and knowledge sharing and understanding around how planning mountain bike trails into active travel networks leads to huge growth in mobility and increased levels of utility cycling.

These learnings have been shared through presentations to the MTB Consortium, including Scottish Government and Forestry and Land Scotland, a collection of key people and organisations working in the Scottish Borders including Scottish Borders Council, South East Scotland Transport Partnership, FLS, and South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), and Fort William Transport Partnership whose audience included Highland Council, Fort William 2030, Scottish Canals, and SUSTRANS.

In 2025, DMBinS will continue to advance the argument that building mountain bike trails will help inspire more people onto their bikes and combined with a well-designed and suitable active travel path network will help Scotland be happier and healthier.

The learnings on how Bentonville have supported innovation and business support have been applied to our partnership project with SOSE and ENU, First Tracks.

The packed agenda also included an opportunity for our Graeme to tell the story of Scottish mountain biking and showcase the amazing riding we have here in Scotland to a US audience.