Nominations opened back in October, and the winners of the 2017 Scottish Mountain Bike Awards have now been announced. Read the details and see a full list of winners below.
“Last Thursday evening saw a celebration of the mountain bike community being held in Glasgow. Over 150 guests representing the best that Scotland has to offer in mountain biking attended the event in the Drygate Brewery that was organised by the Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland and their partners Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland.
“13 awards were presented to riders, businesses, clubs, event organisers, community groups, tourism and services companies who had excelled in 2017.
“A public vote was held for the Mountain Bike Rider of the Year categories which went to Katy Winton and Lewis Buchanan – who both race for Trek Factory Racing in the Enduro World Series.
“The Best Mountain Bike Event was once again won by the Tweedlove Bike Festival.
“In the business categorise, newcomer A S D-Zine, founded by former Robert Gordon University student Andrew Davidson, won the Best Product Award with their revolutionary Go~Charge hydration device. Milngavie based Flaer took home the Best Scottish Exporter Award and the Best Business to Academic Collaboration category went to the University of Strathclyde and ByCyglogical for their work developing a cycling storage device. From a tourism perspective Cleikum Mill in Innerleithen won the MTB Friendly Accommodation and Off the Grid won the Best Service Provider.
“In the participation and sport categories, Bespoke took the hotly contested MTB Community Project and Midlothian Cycles were awarded MTB Club of the Year.
“The Scottish MTB Community showed its support with guest award presenters including Stu Thomson of Cut Media (regular collaborators with Danny MacAskill) and Chris Ball, Managing Director of the Enduro Word Series.
Danny Cowe, co-presenter of the evening and the Business Development Executive of the Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland said: “The awards evening was a fantastic opportunity to showcase and celebrate all the fantastic achievements within the Scottish Mountain Bike community. With such a large turnout on the night and so over 65 nominees throughout the categories, it shows that the sport and industry is in a strong place.”
“Graeme McLean, project manager of Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, said “We know that there is still issues and challenges in Scottish mountain biking, and we are working hard to solve them but we do need to take the time celebrate our successes. By bringing everyone together we can highlight and promote the great range of activity which is happening in Scottish mountain biking. We are always inspired to hear how our community, clubs, businesses and riders are punching above their weight in the world of mountain biking.”
List of winners
• Scottish Mountain Bike Product Innovation of the Year – AS D-Zine Ltd, Go Charge
• Best Scottish Business Collaboration with a University – Bycyclogical and University of Strathclyde
• Endura Exporter of the Year – Flaer
• Scottish MTB Friendly Accommodation Provider of the Year – Cleikum Mill Lodge, Innerleithen
• Edinburgh Napier University Scottish MTB Service Provider of the Year – Off the Grid MTB
• Event of the Year – TweedLove Bike Festival
• Scottish Cycling MTB Photograph of the Year – James McLean
• MTB video of the Year – H&I Adventures, On Wandering
• Shand Cycles Scottish Mountain Bike Club of the Year – Midlothian Cycle Club
• IBIS Cycles Scottish Mountain Bike Community Project of the Year – Bespoke
• Scottish Mountain Biking Local Hero – Barbara Murray and Euan Speirits
• Scottish Female Rider of the Year – Katy Winton
• Scottish Male Rider of the Year – Lewis Buchanan
