New Scottish Enduro Association Launched: Could you be part of It?

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The future of enduro in the UK is looking uncertain, with major event organisers Tweedlove and Kev Duckworth of PMBA hanging up their clipboards for this year. Ironically, maybe, this comes just after the first ever officially sanctioned British Enduro Championships were held, with national jerseys for the winner. In Scotland, there’s a hope that all the momentum of the past won’t be lost, and today Developing Mountain Biking In Scotland (DMBinS) has announced the launch of a new Scottish Enduro Association. They’re also looking for committee members to join, so if you fancy helping build the future of enduro in Scotland, here’s your chance.

Over to the official PR from DMBinS:

NEW SCOTTISH ENDURO ASSOCIATION LAUNCHED

Scottish Cycling and Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) are delighted to launch an exciting opportunity for members of the enduro mountain bike racing community to come forward to support the formation of a volunteer led Scottish Enduro Association to support enduro racing, in line with other sustainable off-road series’.

The Scottish Enduro Association would be supported by Scottish Cycling and DMBinS to deliver the Scottish Enduro Championships, and depending on the development of a strong officials workforce, run a Scottish Enduro Series in 2025 and beyond.

The newly formed association will require a committee of competent people in a range of roles, including people with experience of chair, secretary, treasurer, enduro course design, and marketing and communications, particularly social media. For its inception, staff members of Scottish Cycling and DMBinS will select a qualified and experienced group with the required skillset, however it is anticipated that the association will adopt articles that require an AGM on annual basis.

The Scottish Enduro Association will be able to support the delivery of events, link with trails associations, help develop athletes and provide strategic overview and direction for enduro in Scotland.

Fraser Johnston, Head of Development (Clubs & Events), said

“With the successful British Enduro Champs being recently held at Ae Forest, we are delighted to be able to support the setup of the Scottish Enduro Association. We provide support to the existing Scottish MTB Cross Country Association (SXC) and the Scottish Downhill Association (SDA) and these are sustainable series’, which helps riders enjoy our sport and provide athletes with a pathway of events to achieve on the world stage. We believe that this model can help replicate that success for the Enduro discipline.”

Graeme McLean, Head of Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, said:

“Enduro has been the largest mountain bike discipline in terms of participation since 2014. The launch of the Scottish Enduro Association provides an opportunity for the discipline to have a sustainable structure, made up of passionate, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable people from a variety of backgrounds, who can drive the discipline forward. We are delighted to help the process and hope this leads to what we all want – more sanctioned races and great experiences for riders on sustainable trail networks.”

The following roles are available:

Chair

Role will involve leadership, coordination, delegation to other committee members, liaising with staff at Scottish Cycling/DMBinS, and budget/risk management oversight responsibilities.

Link to role responsibilities

Secretary

Responsible for ensuring effective communication within the committee.

Link to role responsibilities

Treasurer

Responsible for overseeing the organisation’s finances and ensuring fiscal responsibility

Link to role responsibilities

Marketing & Communications (social media)

Responsible for shaping and supporting the implementation of the strategic direction of the association’s public image, outreach, and audience engagement.

Link to role responsibilities

Course Designer (s)

Responsible for shaping the event’s success and rider experience.

Link to role responsibilities

Rider Representative

Responsible for ensuring that riders’ voices are heard, safety is prioritised, and providing a voice for rider feedback on the quality of the event organisation and the fairness of the racing.

Link to role responsibilities


The staff team within Scottish Cycling and DMBinS will support the championships and the potential series in its first year. After the first year, it will be up to the Scottish Enduro Association to revisit the model for the second year to ensure the sustainability of the Association and the discipline.

Those interested in any of the roles should send the following items to events@scottishcycling.org.uk and info@DMBinS.com

  • Brief cover letter detailing the role you are interested in & why you are passionate about it
  • CV that details your competencies

The process for setting up the association is as follows:

  • 7th November – Launched – submissions open
  • 28th November – Closing date for submissions
  • 6th December – Notifications on success or ‘not at this moment’ issued
  • W/C 16th December – First meeting of Scottish Enduro Association

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Hannah Dobson

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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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Home Forums New Scottish Enduro Association Launched: Could you be part of It?

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  • New Scottish Enduro Association Launched: Could you be part of It?
  • 2
    stabilizers
    Full Member

    The future of Enduro has been the subject of a lot of conversation up here, so this is good to see. Hopefully no one is negative about this. If they are then they need to say why and get involved.

    That said, there are a lot of challenges with organiser costs, event locations and course design, as well as land owner liabilities to name a few. All that and more has to be brought to the fore, so everyone, especially the riders are aware of the challenges and differing opinions.

    Hopefully we end up with good events with good spin off’s to local economies.

    1
    mtnboarder
    Full Member

    I’ll be the first negative voice then!

    As a regular volunteer at Tweedlove and now a trainee commissaire for DH, I’ll not be keen to involve myself with Dmbins after their failure to support Tweedlove in any way in recent years.

    I hope there is a future for enduro in Scotland, but not like this- its difficult to see what is being provided from that article?

    1
    stabilizers
    Full Member

    You need to qualify this, “I’ll not be keen to involve myself with Dmbins after their failure to support Tweedlove in any way”.

    Coming from the other end of the country and doing the same as you, I do see them support enduro, despite event organisers being private companies. Not saying its perfect but remember they have a remit, a budget, guidelines and boundaries they cannot cross. They are only the facilitators in getting this association going.

    So. come on. Be constructive. Say what you would do and how you would run it all.

    ( Not right here though. I’m away out to do some trail maintenance)

    mtnboarder
    Full Member

    OK- Tweedlove have been in regular contact regarding funding support over a number of years and got no help at all. Even requests to have their events publicised on the DMBinS website were ignored to my knowledge.

    DMBinS recently paid for two youtubers to visit Scotland- they were riding in the vicinity of Tweedloves final GT7 weekender and avoided the event completely. That, to me is a massive snub of the organisation.

    On one side of the coin, yes they are facilitating a new association, but on the other hand, why should they have the right to choose the board of an independent association?

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