Best Brand Initiative – The Finalists

We’re revealing the Finalists in each of the Singletrack Reader Awards 2021 categories. Thanks to all of you for your nominations, and to our awards sponsors, Kona Bicycles. Here’s who made the cut for the Best Brand Initiative.

Which brand has championed a cause for the benefit of the bike community?

Santa Cruz – Paydirt

The Santa Cruz Paydirt project branched out across the world this year, giving trail groups funds to support their work. Tweed Valley Trails and Ride Sheffield both benefited from this year’s funding. Ride Sheffield will be training and employing trail builders, while Tweed Valley Trails has used the funds to improve the Reservoir Trail which gives access to most of the Golfie. It’s great to see a company investing beyond their locality, and beyond projects that will directly benefit their sales. They’re giving away $1m over three years, and applications for the next round will be open in January 2022.

Specialized – Soil Searching 

Specialized is supporting trail builders through hosting trail days, helping support fundraising activities, and donating a portion of profits from its Soil Searching tyre range to trail building projects. In 2019 and 2020, the Soil Searching project supported 50 trail builders, 200 dig days and 11,000 volunteer hours. The Soil Searching project focuses on three on three aspects of trail work – ambassadors, dig days, and fundraisers.

Trek – All In

Trek’s All In project sets out six commitments to improve the racial diversity of the bike industry. This includes a number of financial commitments: they’re investing $2.5 million over ten years to create 1,000 cycling industry jobs for people of color; $5 million over3 years to establish new bike shops in underserved neighborhoods; establishing a $1 million Community Investment Fund for entrepreneurs of color and existing Trek retailers to open shops in underserved neighborhoods; and providing a scholarship fund to equip 25 NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) teams of children from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

It’s all down to you, the public, to decide who wins each category – there’s no funny business or back room cheques. So enjoy our coverage of the finalists, and be sure to vote for your favourites. Voting will open on 18th October, and close on 1st November.

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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