Edinburgh Schools Mtb Championship 2025

Edinburgh Road Club are delighted to have been awarded funding from the City of Edinburgh Sports Event Fund for 2025/26 to support the Edinburgh schools mountain-bike championship.

This will be held on Wednesday, 11th June 2025 at Harmeny School in collaboration with Scottish Cycling. Those interested in entering should email the organiser on edschool.mtb@gmail.com.

The event will allow young Edinburgh riders (P7-S6) to come together in an entry-level race. Some cycling skills will be needed to negotiate the course at speed successfully, however, the terrain is not intended to be severe to deter beginners. The most technically challenging sections (i.e. scary) can be bypassed. The ‘direct lines’ will challenge those hoping to progress to the annual Scottish schools mountain bike championship in September.

There will be a separate skills challenge in which competitors can practice their cycling abilities, which will give extra interest for those not purely interested in racing.

Our development officer Linda Maclean and other coaches will offer sessions to riders at their schools to prepare them for the event. This will not be on a mountain bike trail but will give riders basic riding skills required, e.g. accelerating, braking, gears, cornering etc.

• Harmeny School is providing the venue which already contains a rudimentary mtb trail. The school will help club members prepare a challenging and safe course with variety of terrain to satisfy a range of needs. Harneny pupils will be fully engaged in the program as event crew undertaking a number of roles before, during and after the event. This includes course building, marshalling, lap counting and course take-down. We expect that the crew will gain useful transferable skills including teamwork and communication. Some will even be riding! Harmeny staff will be there to provide support to their students.

• Scottish Cycling through Paul Newman (SC’s National MTB Coach) will be supporting the event by visiting the venue, agreeing a circuit and any modifications required, then supporting us in the lead-up and on competition day. As an Edinburgh resident, Paul will be close on hand to help.

• Portobello High School head teacher, Greg Dowell, will be helping us focus our event on the needs of local kids. It would be easy to pitch our offering at the wrong level. Greg is keen to enable more Edinburgh riders become involved with cycling as transport, recreation and sport. He has taken teams of riders from his former school to the Scottish championships and wants to enable more young people to have a similar experience. This event would be an ideal conduit to wider participation amongst this group.

We expect the event to aim to meet CoE’s strategic priorities of creating good places to live and work in Edinburgh, taking local actions needed to end poverty in Edinburgh, and delivering a net zero city by 2030. It also aims to meet a number of further outcomes including promoting participation and providing volunteering opportunities.

The event will promote participation and volunteering in a cycle event across Edinburgh. School students will be able to improve their riding skills through our coaching programme and go on to compete in a ‘real’ sanctioned event. The race will enrich the life experience of many local young people. We hope that this will lead to them being more confident on cyclists (a life skill in its own right), and also around students from other schools. The event will also allow Harmeny residents to interact with mainstream schools. The event will be embraced by the school to prepare, deliver and review the event.

Our mountain bike race aims to inspire and engage young people from Edinburgh’s most disadvantaged areas. This event aligns with the City of Edinburgh Council’s Physical Activity and Sport Strategy priorities, especially Physical Activity and Sport for All, and Active Places of Learning, by promoting inclusivity and reducing barriers to participation.

Aligned with the End Poverty in Edinburgh Plan and the strategic focus on reducing health inequalities, this event will provide free participation for all young people in our target groups. Equipment and support will be targeted to particular schools to eliminate any potential financial and logistical barriers.

The event will foster skills development, resilience, and a sense of achievement, aligning with the Edinburgh Learns for Life framework goals of empowering learners and addressing health and wellbeing through active participation. The programme will include training sessions and workshops leading up to the event, enhancing both the physical and social skills of the participants.

By working with partners across education and sports organisations, we aim to create an inspiring and sustainable initiative that benefits the most vulnerable young people in our communities. Our approach follows Edinburgh’s existing infrastructure and aligns well with the 20-Minute Neighbourhood Strategy to promote local engagement.