What IS MountainBikeNI?
Written by Ethan Loughrey on .
On the surface, this might sound straightforward. MountainBikeNI looks after mountain biking in Northern Ireland, right? Well, yes – but this can mean different things to different people. Read on to learn what exactly MountainBikeNI does, what it can’t do and what our hopes are for the future.
Simply put, MountainBikeNI is a brand which exists to raise awareness of the official mountain bike trail centres in Northern Ireland to both local riders and those from further afield, with a key focus on those in the Republic of Ireland.
The MountainBikeNI.com website, promotional videos, social media (including social influencers), e-zines and press trips are all key tools in our approach. As shown by extensive research, more people mountain biking means happier, healthier people and more money in the local economy.
Castlewellan regularly sees over 30,000 riders visit the trails every year
Great! But why only the official trail centres?
Fundamentally, that’s what MountainBikeNI was set up to do i.e. provide a collaborative approach to the promotion of official trail centres. These promotional activities are therefore funded by a consortium of local councils who manage the official trail centres. Currently, that is Newry, Mourne & Down District Council (Rostrevor & Castlewellan), Mid Ulster District Council (Blessingbourne & Davagh) and Belfast City Council (Barnett Demesne). This is also why MountainBikeNI branding is in place at these trail centres.
This combination of resources provides an economy of scale and also makes things easier for the visitor e.g. one website for all trail centres rather than 5 individual websites.
You update trail conditions; does that mean you’re in charge of trail maintenance?
Each trail centre is ultimately managed by the relevant local Council, we simply communicate the trail condition reports provided by each.
MountainBikeNI acts as the amplifier to voices on both sides of the trails; raising concerns brought up with mountain bikers via social media to rangers, and vice versa alerting mountain bikers to closures or diversions. We also manage the MountainBikeNI Volunteer Scheme – which recruits volunteers to assist rangers with repairs to the trails.
Who ‘owns’ MountainBikeNI?
MountainBikeNI is a brand of Outscape (formerly Outdoor Recreation Northern Ireland), a not-for-profit organisation who make it easier for people to responsibly enjoy the outdoors.
MountainBikeNI sits alongside a number of other Outscape consumer brands such as WalkNI and OutmoreNI.
Outscape also performs a wider role in terms of mountain biking:
We performed a key role in the realisation of several of Northern Ireland’s existing trail centres. Whilst these were ultimately delivered by the respective local Council, Outscape was pivotal in advocating for their development, securing funding and between 2011 – 2013 project managing significant aspects of their on the ground delivery.
Outscape were previously commissioned by Belfast City Council to facilitate a pilot project to identify and test a mechanism for the management, inspection and maintenance of the ‘The Middle Trail’ in Cave Hill Country Park. We were delighted to learn that the evaluation of a two year pilot has deemed the partnership between the Council and Cavehiil Mountainbikers Club a success and that this will lead to further consideration adoption of natural trails within Cave Hill.
We’ve also been involved with the facilitation of the UK Trails Project roll out in Northern Ireland. This involved organising the project lead, Dave Evans, to meet with landowners all over Northern Ireland, sector leaders and of course, mountain bikers themselves whom sat in on a workshop organised by Dave. Incidentally this was the best attended of all the UK Trails Seminars.
And that’s it! We do lots of other things as well; advise council on signage, advocate for further development of accessible mountain biking and so on, but we hope this blog has helped give you an idea of the day to day workings of MountainBikeNI and what is does.
Thanks for reading! If you are interested in joining the MountainBikeNI Volunteer Scheme, please tell us. Or if we haven’t answered any of your questions, drop us an email to info@mountainbikeni.com.
