Take Care Of Your Trails 2024

Whether you’re an established or aspiring trail builder, or even just a weekend rider, there’s something here for you in the Take Care Of Your Trails 2024 campaign.

The Take Care of Your Trails campaign is based on a successful pilot project initially developed by Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS). In 2017, IMBA Europe adopted the concept and worked in partnership with DMBinS to turn TCoYT into a pan-European event. The objectives of the TCoYT campaign are:

• to promote trail stewardship and improve the image of our sport;
• to recognise the work of many MTB volunteers;
• to encourage new or strengthen existing partnerships; and
• to protect the places we love to ride.

2024 Theme

Each year the event has a theme, and this year it’s “Trail building education”. In 2024 IMBA Europe would like to make sure the crews that take part have access to trail building and maintenance education, and is offering series of four online trail building and basic maintenance classes.

These webinars are being recorded and shared on the IMBA Europe YouTube channel as a resource for all – two are already available, so tune in and see what you can learn.

If that whets your appetite and you’re keen to learn more about trail building, you can also apply to access the Developing Intereuropean Resources for Trail building Training resources.

Participate

The TCOYT campaign itself will take place in May, with volunteers all over Europe organising trail maintenance events and dig days. To find out more about organising an event and to register your event head to their website:  www.takecareofyourtrails.com

Awards

Since the inauguration of the Take Care of Your Trails campaign in 2017, IMBA Europe has been trying to highlight and reward the outstanding efforts of trail crews/associations and their dedicated volunteers across Europe. There are four awards this year:

• The “Outstanding trail crew” award recognises the crew who log the most hours of work and gather the most amount of volunteers. This crew organises regular trail maintenance days throughout the course of the year, and communicates and engages well with their local community.  
• The “Protect and Preserve award” is awarded based on the best community led conservation effort or proposal from a trail association.
• The “Trail advocate of the year” and “Youth trail advocate of the year” awards reward individuals who go above and beyond for their local trails and association. This award is given to 3 individuals (a man, a woman, a youth) who have distinguished themself in hours and service to trail maintenance during the past year.
• The “Best National Mountain Bike Association” award emphasises the importance of national trail associations and their created impact on their communities and trail networks. This will be recognised as a lifetime achievement.

To enter or submit your nominations, head to the Take Care Of Your Trails website.

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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