Kath Goodey lives in a small village in Eryri National Park, North Wales, where she channels her passion for mountain biking into trail building. As Chair of Trail Collective North Wales, founded in 2022, Kath has played a key role in supporting sustainable trails. Her efforts unite the community and secure the future of mountain biking in the area.
Kath Goodey on trail building and uniting the mountain biking community in North Wales
13 May 2025
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your way into trail building?
My name is Kath Goodey and I live in a tiny hamlet called Nebo, high in the Eryri National Park in North Wales. I have been completely in love with the mountains and all mountain sports since childhood. I am a super keen mountain biker and am the founder of RideHigh MTB, my guiding and coaching business. I taught English in secondary schools for 25 years, until 2021 but now guide and coach and also proofread and copy edit adventure travel and guide books.
I got into trail building initially through simply going out and tidying up ( strimming, cutting back vegetation etc) the multi-use trails in our local woods and hills for the benefit of local riders. In 2021, Dave Evans, now UK Trail Project lead, was working for our landowner, National Resources Wales, surveying the many fantastic but unofficial trails in our area and had put a shout out to meet up with local trail builders. A group of locals met with Dave who had suggested that it would help communication with NRW if there was an official trail association of some kind in the area. I was nominated as Chair and Trail Collective North Wales was born in January 2022. From that time on, my trail building and maintenance skills have been steadily progressing.
What is the best and worst part of being a trail builder?
The best part of it is definitely the deep satisfaction of working hard on a trail and then seeing people buzzing off the pleasure of riding it. The worst part? That’s easy, it’s the desperately slow, torturous process of working with our landowner to gain official recognition for the areas trails. We live in constant fear of our work being all for nothing and trails being closed.
What is the project you are most proud of – and why?
I think actually, the part of the project I’m most proud of is simply the bringing together of our local riding community. There is a real appetite for a diverse range of folk to come out and volunteer their time for trail maintenance. There is something so great about seeing folk of all ages, men and women, youngsters and more senior riders all keen to contribute to the ongoing, sustainable maintenance of our local trails.
What positive impacts have you seen trail building have in your region, and what are some common challenges or negative aspects?
I think one of the most positive aspects is discussed above, but I would add that we are all learning so much about the benefits of nature and social connection in the forest environment as well as the technical aspects of trail building and RAMS. Many of us have recently completed our trail maintenance, trail coordination and inspection training. At least one of our younger volunteers is now very keen to pursue a career in trail building.
Common challenges and negatives are undoubtedly as mentioned previously; working with a complex, national, underfunded, under resourced and organisationally challenged landowner. Land managers who, depending on whether or not they ‘get’ mountain biking, will either help or hinder the engagement and relationship building process necessary to gain an official trail maintenance agreement.
Secondly, for us here in Wales, and the UK in general, the challenges of more frequent powerful storms and high winds decimating our forests is all too real. This of course, doesn’t help the landowner either as it just pushes the needs of mountain bike trail associations even further down their list of priorities.
Finally, we have to accept that a minority of local trail builders do not agree with what we are aiming to achieve and feel that ‘letting sleeping dogs lie’ is the best approach. It will always be a difficult path to tread, change and progress is often seen as negative until it results in a tangibly better situation for all.
3 things that would benefit the future of trail building?
- Consistent framework and clear permissions process nationwide for trail associations in Wales.
- An insurance product developed by the NGB (British/Welsh Cycling) that will reassure the ‘terrified of liability claims’ legal team at NRW .
- Recognition of the importance of the contribution of MTB to the health of our nation. Currently there are obesity, mental health and anti social behaviour crises in Wales. MTB and a developing trail infrastructure that supports progress from beginner to pro will benefit so many.
Photo credit (header) – Sim Mainey
Photo credit of rider descending- Alan Wright