The Take Care of Your Trails campaign is about recognising and highlighting the importance of the people behind the trails. Without trail crews and associations, we wouldn’t have mountain biking, it’s as simple as that. In 2023 we are putting a focus on youth participation in trail maintenance and will be encouraging crews to find fun and innovative ways to get more of our youth out in nature, giving back.
The campaign is also about rewarding the efforts of those individuals, crews and associations who have achieved something ‘outstanding’ in 2023 with some great prizes from our campaign sponsors. This is a great opportunity to say another BIG thank you to Specialized Bikes, Dorte Tools, WTB, Wikiloc and Eco-counter for providing some fantastic prizes.
And here are our winners…
Outstanding Local Trail Crew: Basaburua (Spain)
The ‘Outstanding Local Trail Crew’ is awarded to the crew that has created the biggest impact during the month of May on their local trails. Headed by just two trail builders, Basaburua trail crew hosted 6 dig days during May, increased youth participation in maintenance events, communicated and engaged well with their local community, and spread awareness and good vibes through their social media channels.
Over the years this crew has built a strong community of volunteer builders, maintainers, and riders but mainly they have managed to bring together all trail users and youth into their group. Their collaborative work with local government and private partners has created a great environment and foundation for future growth and expansion of the network.
The winning crew will receive a selection of tools from Dorte tools + a Specialized Levo SL for their dig day activities!
Protect and Preserve: Aberdeenshire Trail Association
The Protect and Preserve award is awarded to the trail crew or individual that is undergoing / planned a conservation or restoration project in their local trail community. This year we decided to award Aberdeenshire the award for their ongoing efforts to restore not only the local trail network that was affected by this catastrophic climatic event- Storm Arwen- but more importantly, restoring the local ecosystem to a state better than it was before.
Recently, Manon Carpenter in collaboration with DWACO agency has released a film ‘Winds of Change’ which documents the positive outcomes that have come from such a devastating event to the Aberdeenshire community. In a follow up article, we will dig deeper into the current work of the Aberdeenshire Trail Association and their recovery efforts.
Aberdeenshire Trail Association will receive a grant thanks to our sponsors Wikiloc and Specialized bikes which will go towards their continued recovery efforts.
Trail Advocate of the Year Award – Yaroslav Alpizar & Cathy Naveaux
The Trail Advocate of the Year award is a special award in which the winner must be nominated by their peers in order to be considered. Like all years, it was inspiring to see how many people were making such a positive impact on the local trail networks that it warranted a nomination. However, this year two people really stood out of the pack, Cathy Naveaux from France, and Yaroslav Alpizar from Spain. Both deserving winners have gone above and beyond to support, rally and encourage their local trails through organising local dig days and engaging with local stakeholders and getting more youth outdoors and active.
Yari and Cathy will both be receiving a Specialized Pro deal pack which included a ‘Pro discount’ on a bike of their choice + some Specialized swag and a Dorte tools gift voucher.
Youth Trail Advocate of the Year Award- Kvido Klawe
For the first time in TCoYT history, we are awarding the ‘Youth Trail Advocate of the Year’ to encourage and put a spotlight on the next generation of trail builders who will maintain, preserve, and restore our future trail networks. This year we had some great entrants into this award category, however the standout application was from the Czech Mountain Bike Assocation (CEMBA) who nominated Kvido Klawe. Kvido has a keen interest in trail building, and the area behind his house was the perfect spot to introduce a new trail, which he could ride after school without having to drive to another trail network. Instead of embarking on the construction of an illegal trail, he took the official route of building a trail through educating himself in the principles of trail building, seeking out the correct permissions from the forestry administrator and other local stakeholders. We’ll dive into the full details of how Kvido planned, designed and constructure his trail close to home in a follow up interview.
Kvido will receive a Specialized Pro deal pack which included a ‘Pro discount’ on a bike of their choice + some Specialized swag.
Outstanding National Trail Association- DIMB (Deutsche Initiative Mountainbike e.V)
The Outstanding National Trail Association award is awarded to an IMBA Europe member organisation who has led (is leading) the way in trail advocacy work, community, and capacity building within their nation. The winner of this year’s award is DIMB (Deutsche Initiative Mountainbike e.V), who received the award for their ongoing work in Germany to secure, create and find solutions for trails close to home. We’ll be doing a full interview with DIMB, where we hear more about the current state of the trails in Germany and how DIMB plan to use their new Eco-counter to gather information on trail usage which will assist in their advocacy efforts.
The winning association will receive a (1) Eco-Counter PYRO-Box people counter for a period of 1-year, which includes the accompanying data analysis software, professional assistance and consultation services from Eco-Counter to set up and manage count programs. Data plays an important role in advocating for mountain biking trails and infrastructure, and understanding how to gather data and how to apply it to advocacy efforts can be a critical component in these efforts.
