Mountain Biking Opportunity for secondary aged children
History will be made on 14 September.
For the first time in Dumfries and Galloway, The 7 Stanes at Dalbeattie will be hosting the regional mountain biking competition. Mountain biking is delivered in a number of different ways in our secondary schools and through partnership work with Scottish cycling and the organisers of the SXC Mountain bike racing series 2014, we have been able to create a regional competition.
The event will be running alongside Round 6 of the SXC Mountain bike series on the day which will see many Commonwealth and World Class athletes competing. The event is being piloted alongside this event to promote the sport, and it is hoped that our schools will promote this to as many mountain bikers, experienced and beginners to enter the event and compete on the day and have the chance to further develop their skills and competitive experiences.
Working alongside Scottish cycling to create this event for the regions secondary schools is a key task for our Council. Not only can our regions pupils represent their own school in an entirely new school competition, they can do it on a national stage alongside some of the world’s best. This is a great opportunity and our Council are hoping to make it an annual event.
Cllr Tom McAughtrie, Chairman of the Council’s Community and Customer Services Committee, “It is good to see so many sports being promoted at this level in our regions schools. We as a country have had the spotlight placed on us for a couple of years now with the Commonwealth Games and it seems we are determined to keep it on us with fantastic events like this growing all the time.”
Fiona Walker from Scottish Cycling also commented, “Scottish Cycling are keen to support competitive cycling in schools and we are confident that this event will be the first of many cycling opportunities for pupils in Dumfries and Galloway. Combining a schools’ event with the main Scottish Championships allows pupils to race against the best riders in the country and hopefully will encourage pupils to progress in the sport of cycling.”
