Recognised Mountain Bike Leader Training?

Does anyone have any info as to which leader training one should take up if, for instance, a future in Europe was on the horizon?

I have had a lot of ‘you should teach’ comments lately and feel the need to [cheese] ‘give something back'[/cheese]

Any ideas?

SMBLA is usually touted as ‘the best’.

OTC courses are now owned by the CTC so no longer are they an independant company which was against some peoples ideals for an award. Stand up well against the others.
SMBLA, is good but misses some of the OTC sylabus and vice versa.
MIAS, good, seems to be less heard of.

To work in a more remote location, which not many folk do! You would need to add on some form of walking / mountain leader for it to cover the terrain you could be working in. But this is unlikely with the majority of work in the UK.

Paul

All are recognised in the outdoor education industry in the UK.

Speaking with my ‘work hat’ on (leader manager at Exodus), if you wanted to work in France you would need your International Mountain Leader (IML) trekking ticket, plus either CTC or SMBLA biking award in order to be legal.

Elsewhere in Europe, the situation is less clear cut, but pretty much all companies would require you to have a first aid ticket and a UK mtb qual, which even if they’re not recognised in the country you’re considering working in, would at least show that you had attended a UK approved training course, and passed an assessment.

I’m biased towards the CTC award (as I work for them as a leader trainer), but at present neither CTC or SMBLA are recognised as the UK National Governing Body (NGB) award, and consequently both are equally valid.

I’m afraid my knowledge of MIAS award is less than perfect, and suspect the other two are more well known as PaulB pointed out.

Hope this helps!

Like Paul says, OTC is part of CTC now – so now there are leadership courses as well as skills training. Certainly a great place to start enquiries – you’ll do well to do a REC first aid course too – also possible to arrange through CTC, and will be tailored to mountain biking. We’ve just done one hosted at Llandegla which was fantastic – may well be organising same to be run down south soon if anyone interested.

Ian Warby at CTC can point in the right direction, or I’m sure Richard at allbikedup.com wouldn’t mind helping if you’re in the South and would like to know about doing leadership, instructor or first aid (REC).

Thanks guys; all those acronyms are really confusing and there is a minefield of stuff there. I’ll do some more research based on what you said when I am home from work.

It seems that there are two elements: Mountain craft and Bike Technique, or am I wrong?

There is a chance I may be in Spain for a few years so wanted to do something that was actually worthwhile and recognized rather than just a rubber stamp.

Two different things – leading a group and teaching skills/craft. Although it is pretty tricky to teach a group if you can’t look after them!

Def get some experience too, if you can.

Very varied in europe.

For example an award here in Italy is just an afternoon in a town hall, yet in France it can take you at the minimum 3 years!!