Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – Cathkin Braes course update.

 An international mountain bike course close to a major city centre? Sounds like a good idea to us. As does letting the young public decide the course names via the medium of a good old-fashioned schools competition…

Brig O’Doom, Broken Biscuits and Clyde Climb were among the standout winning entries in a schools competition to name features of the soon-to-be-opened Cathkin Braes mountain bike course. Glasgow 2014’s HQ Commonwealth House hosted an awards ceremony today (Wednesday, 5 December) which saw the winners announced for eight distinctive features of the course which will host mountain biking at the Commonwealth Games.

The venue is being developed by Glasgow City Council’s Land & Environmental Services and will be a permanent facility. It will be Glasgow’s first international standard mountain biking course. The naming competition invited 17 schools across two local authorities within 1.5 miles of the venue to submit suggestions after being given a description of the look of each individual aspects of the course deemed its most interesting and challenging.

The competition was a partnership between Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council, Land Environmental Services and Glasgow 2014 and was used to inspire children and young people to participate in a project that is close to their local community. From the 17 schools invited, 13 participated and generated more than 800 suggestions for the naming of the eight unique features that are on the course. The winning names will not only be used at Games time, but throughout the life of the course and are set to be adopted by riders of all experience from locals trying out the sport to international cyclists.

The schools were aided both by an information pack that detailed the eight features with images and supporting text alongside help from active school co-ordinators and had the option of a guided walk of the site by Glasgow City Council Cycling Officer Allan Maclean.

The course will be a legacy that will not only provide a venue capable of staging future international events, but also a facility that will benefit the communities of Glasgow and South Lanarkshire and surrounding areas in a sport that is rapidly growing in popularity.

David Grevemberg, Glasgow 2014 Chief Executive, said:

“The Mountain Bike event offers a fantastic opportunity to get more people involved in cycling through the inspiration of seeing the world’s best riders cycling at XX Commonwealth Games on a brand new mountain bike track. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the judging and am confident the names will prove popular among riders for years to come.”

Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow City Council, said:

“For many kids, getting on a mountain bike will be their first taste of cycling – and we are building a facility that is going to give generations of young Glaswegians a chance to go as far in that sport as they want to. Local children have been involved right from the start and, in coming up with these names, they have really put their stamp on the course. These are names that will be on the lips of spectators and athletes in 2014 – and the thousands of riders that will enjoy the venue in years to come.”

Rab Wardell, Scottish international cyclist (and Singletrack’s North of the Border correspondent), said:

“To have such a world class mountain biking facility so close to the city centre is unique. There’s already a buzz around track cycling on the back of the Velodrome opening a few months ago. There is a fantastic club structure in place and a great group of volunteers working across the country so I think it’s just a matter of time until people are coming down to this world-class facility.”

Dave Anderson

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