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The ‘Take Care of Your Trails’ weekend will take place on April 7th to the 8th, with over 50 trail repair groups from Scotland to Slovenia, Denmark to Italy and Netherlands to Spain taking part in the event.
In 2017, Slovenia were crowned the ‘Best MTB Community in Europe’ with 32 groups and over 440 volunteers, including the Slovenian prime minister, taking part in the effort to maintain the country’s trails. They were closely followed by Scotland.
The weekend will be centrally coordinated by IMBA Europe, who will collate each countries results at the end of the weekend. The winning country will be presented with a prize at round three of the Enduro World Series in Olargues – Montagnes du Caroux, France in May 2018.
CEO of IMBA Europe Mark Torsius commented: “It is great to see the number of trail crews coming forward for our friendly competition. We believe the weekend will help many existing trail crews across Europe promote their good work and get new volunteers along to their sessions.
“We are always blown away by the work that mountain bikers do to protect and enhance one of the main reasons they love their sport: the trails. IMBA Europe work closely with the EU and this weekend will be great to highlight to politician’s pan-Europe, through countries and locally how we are an active part of communities and are becoming increasingly well organised and effective. It will be a great weekend and we look forward to announcing the winner at our summit.”
Project manager of Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland Graeme McLean added: “Everyone loves a bit of friendly competition though and we are delighted to team up with IMBA Europe and see if we can become the top country in the ‘Take Care of Your Trails’ weekend.
“Scotland has some of the best mountain biking trail provision in the world and those who spend time on these trails are keen to ensure that it stays that way. The last three years proved that giving up a day or two of their time to help maintain their local trails is something most mountain bikers can get behind.
“The sheer volume of volunteers mucking in over the course of the weekend is going to make a huge difference. We’re really looking forward to seeing all the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots from across Scotland!”
To view the map of trail locations across Europe, click here.
