Programme

Registration & Refreshments

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Barry Edmondson – Chair of DMBinS Committee, Scottish Cycling

Welcome & introduction to the Scottish Mountain Bike Conference 2022 by Barry Edmondson, on behalf of the event organisers Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland.

Jennifer Craw – Opportunity North East

Welcome to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire from event partners, Opportunity North East. Jennifer will outline how the destination is developing and the work that ONE & partners are creating to push forward infrastructure, business development, and innovation in mountain biking and wider adventure tourism through the North East Adventure Tourism (NEAT) project.

Maree Todd, MSP, Minister for Public Health, Womens Health, & Sport

Scottish Government’s perspective on mountain biking across Scotland including the support they have provided and how they view future levels of support for the sport and sector.

Graeme McLean - Head of Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland

Update on progress and consultation on a refresh of the Scottish Mountain Bike Strategy 2019-2025. Progress, on behalf of the members of the MTB Consortium, on the implementation of the 2019-2025 Scottish Mountain Bike Strategy and the key points from the refresh of the MTB Strategy to be discussed through the conference.

Refreshments & Networking

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Trudy Lindblade – CEO 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships

2023 UCI Cycling World Championships is the biggest cycling event in the world and will be coming to Scotland in 2023. With over 1 billion eyes with an interest in cycling going to be on Scotland, the event has the opportunity to profile our sport like never before. Discover how the whole sector can engage and benefit from the event.

Gary Vernon – Walton Foundation

Bentonville has gone from a few trails built by volunteers to being a key part of the business, social, and community landscape of not only the town of Bentonville but the wider Ozark region. Gary will present on the journey including the motivations for investors, the trails being a central tenet of the visitor economy of the region, and the impact on the health & well-being of communities linked by the extraordinary trail network.

Break for Lunch

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Edward Shoote (SOSE) & Christof Backhaus (ENU)

Reshoring, Remanufacturing and Innovation - Re-introducing a bike industry to Scotland.

Scotland has long been an innovator in the bicycling industry including the first pedal driven bicycle (Kirkpatrick MacMillan) and the first pneumatic tyre (Dunlop). With the movement of the cycling industry towards reshoring manufacturing from the Far East into Europe and the need for a circular economy to help mitigate the environmental crisis there will be opportunities in Scotland, and beyond. The presentation will explore these opportunities and the proactive approach by enterprise agencies to realise them.

Olve Norderhaug - Trysil Bike Arena, Destination Trysil

Trysil is Norway’s largest ski resort until the mid-2010’s the resort was heavily dominated by the winter season. Through a structured programme of investment into mountain bike trail and destination development the resort has significantly changed the split between winter and summer guests. Learn about their targeted approach, the diversity of trail offer, and the impact of mountain biking on the local economy.

Workshop sessions (choice of 1)

1. Trails - Focus on strategic project / Scottish MTB Trail Fund

Are the correct strategic projects identified across Scotland? Will they cope with the growing market? Progress on Trail Fund and how we can maximise it to ensure the long-term sustainability of national support for the trails

2. MTB & Wider Adventure - DMBinS & NEAT

Integrating MTB into wider adventure – how do we develop this further and create complete destinations?

3. Innovation in Products & Destinations - MTBCoS

Analysing and addressing the gaps in the innovation eco-system in Scotland to ensure that Scotland can position itself as a place for reshoring and remanufacturing.

Coffee & Networking

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Stu Thomson – Cut Media

From Scottish Downhill Champion to creating brand & marketing strategies for the biggest global MTB companies, Cut Media, has developed some of the best loved and most viewed mountain biking videos and marketing campaigns in the world.

Stu will tell his story of riding Scottish Downhill Association events through to sponsoring race teams and onto creating some of the most innovative brand marketing strategies in the mountain biking and cycling sector. He is also active in his local community as part of Bike Trossachs who have successfully delivered the Gravelfoyle project and Dukes Weekender event.

He is a unique position to understand both the global cycling market and how community driven projects can make a real difference to local economies. Promises to be an inspiring finish to the Trails, Destinations & Innovation day.

Barry Edmondson

Closing remarks from the hosts.

Ride with the locals

Opportunity to ride local trails with local riders before the evening events start.

Registration & Refreshments

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Barry Edmondson - Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland

Welcome & Introduction

Nick Rennie - Scottish Cycling CEO & Brian Facer – British Cycling CEO

Creating a world class participation & sporting pathway.Scottish Cycling’s & British Cycling’s vision for the development of mountain biking in Scotland and across the UK.

Lesley Ingram (ENU), Dan Cook (BC),& Tracy Moseley (Bosch/Trek Ambassador)

The rise of the E-bike As the growth of e-bikes continues there will be a presentation of new research which has examined participants habits and the trends in the industry to help us understand the positives, and how we can take advantage of these. Whilst acknowledging any negative impact and how we can collectively mitigate against these.

Refreshments & Networking

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Hollie Fountain – Edinburgh Napier University

Evaluation on the Impact of Trail Therapy Programme The premise of Trail Therapy is to deliver mountain bike sessions in a manner that helps accelerate and sustain recovery from people experiencing mental ill-health. The presentation will showcase the results of an academic appraisal of the programme and we will hear how the programme has benefitted Hazel and her dad, Lucas Avery.

Manon Carpenter - Specialized Soil SearchingLearnings and observations of 2 years talking trails.

Over the last two years Manon, ex-DH World Champion, has been interviewing key people in UK mountain biking to understand our relationship with the trails and how they are integral to the mountain biking experience.

Break for Lunch

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Dr. Jamie Marshall - ENU/Int. Surf Therapy Organisation

Surf Therapy; from the beach to the trail. Exploring how surfing has been operationalised to support health/well-being and what lessons we can learn for similar MTB approaches.

Surf therapy is a term that has only been used with any confidence in the last couple of years and Dr Jamie has been involved from the outset. From founding the Wave Project in Scotland to his recent world first PhD exploring mechanisms in surf therapy, Jamie is well placed to lead a discussion on what makes surf therapy work, and the most important considerations for similar approaches within the MTB community.

Lars Wraae Jensen – DIRTT Project Manager

The (Developing Intereuropean Resources for Trailbuilding Training) DIRTT Project has brought together partners from Scotland and across Europe to improve the knowledge transfer within mountain biking trail building. Lars Wraae Jensen, the DIRTT Project manager, will present on the progress made to date, the next step in the journey of European wide accreditation for trail builders as part of DIRTT 2.0, and the vision for an integrated network of educational institutions across Europe delivering trail courses.

Workshop Sessions (choice of 1)

1. International MTB Trail Therapy Network (DMBinS & International Surf Therapy Organisation)

Workshop to explore the potential for an international network of mountain bike and mental health practitioners creating a body that can help and encourage knowledge share and spread of good practice.

2. Sporting Pathway in MTB (Scottish Cycling - David Somerville)

Exploring the pathway in more detail to understand where collectively we can place available resources to help our athletes achieve on the world stage.

3. Preventing & Reducing Bike Crime (DMBinS & Police Scotland)

Bike crime has reached unprecedented levels over the last few years. Collectively we need to understand how we can work with Police Scotland to understand how they can help the MTB community, and industry, and how we can help them.

4. Professional Trail Builders & DIRTT Tutors

Workshop with professional trail builders and DIRTT tutors to explore the concept of a sustainability reflection framework for trail planning and building, and to explore how the industry will get involved in the next phase of the DIRTT project.

Coffee & Networking

Opportunity for ideas & feedback on refresh of Scottish MTB Strategy via Posters & Brand Exhibitions

Members of the local mountain bike community and Will Clarke (DMBinS)

Closing the conference with the drive and passion of the local MTB community Aberdeenshire was once the forgotten destination in Scottish mountain biking. Over the last 10 years the passion of the local community has driven it forward and it is on the verge, if not already achieved, its place as one of the best destinations in Scottish mountain biking. Hear from some of the local voices who have been integral to the success of the destination.

Barry Edmondson

Conference Closing Remarks

Ride with locals / DIRTT Tutors Session

Trail Associations/Volunteer Network Session

A chance to support Aberdeenshire Trail Association on a trail maintenance/dig session as they look to further enhance the local trail network. Catch up with the group and other trail associations from across Scotland to share experiences and discuss the future of volunteer trail sessions over a trail tool.

Professional Trail Builders & DIRTT Tutors - Site Visit Tarland Trails

A unique opportunity to visit Aberdeenshire’s first large scale trail centre development and Scotland’s largest community MTB project at Tarland Trails. Aimed at the trail building industry this session is a chance for a site visit at the circa £1m development facilitated by the lead contractors, CRC, looking at trail design, construction methods and future plans for the site.