Sheffield, the fourth biggest city in the UK, launched its credentials as The Outdoor City in autumn last year. Why? Because the close proximity between the urban and rural landscape gives Sheffield a unique identity, making it the UK’s leading destination for people seeking outdoor adventure, city culture and rural escapes. In particular, with The Peak District National Park which holds world class routes, tracks and trails on its doorstep; Sheffield is the city of choice for Mountain Bikers worldwide.
Ride Sheffield doesn’t waste any time. After only 4 months since they opened the Lady Cannings trails in Sheffield, they are at it again…but this time they are making their mark on Redmires Reservoirs!
Ride Sheffield is a local mountain bike advocacy group, with over 3000 members and a mandate to speak for mountain bikers in Sheffield and the surrounding areas. Although many people get involved, it is a core group of 10 volunteers who help drive projects like trail building for mountain bikers in Sheffield. They first formed back in 2010, and have been very busy indeed. Alongside Sheffield City Council, they have been responsible for the development and continued management of trails in Greno Woods, Lady Cannings and Parkwood Springs.
The Lady Cannings Plantation is particularly impressive, with the resources coming from a mixture of crowd funding, local business donations and Go Outdoors. Not only is it the first dedicated mountain bike trail to be built in the Peak District, but it’s also the first and currently only crowd funded mountain bike trail in the UK.
Cy Turner, one of the volunteers and founder of Cotic, said: “It has been a major success! At Ride Sheffield we have good contacts with the media, and so we were able to get coverage in national magazines to spread the word. The amount of support and generosity has been unbelievable. We pitched our story to local businesses and raised over £7,500, with one local architect company, Norton Mayfield, donating £5,000.” A further £8,700 came from the crowd funding, thanks to hundreds of individual donations from local and not-so-local people wanting something better for Peak District mountain bikers.
The trail has been very popular already, with over 14,000 runs down in 14 weeks since it opened on Strava alone (an app which monitors your route, giving you split times). “The point behind Lady Cannings was to add some fun and learning to a trail, one that is suitable for kids and beginners starting out, as well as intermediates wanting to improve, yet still providing a challenge to experienced riders.” Cy continued. “Before Lady Cannings (a blue trail), Sheffield had either very easy-going routes or really technically challenging natural trails like Wharncliffe or Blacka Moor. There was no middle ground.”
But there’s no rest for these mountain biking enthusiasts. Ride Sheffield has already started to have a whip-round for their next challenge: Redmires Reservoirs. On Dec 1 they celebrated their 5th Birthday, raising £1,250 at their social to get the ball rolling.
@ridesheffield: “Thanks to everyone who came to our social last night. We raised £1250. A great start for the #RADmires crowding”.
The trail at Redmires Reservoir is set to run alongside the byway up to Stannage Pole (a pole that has been around for nearly 500 years and is believed to mark the boundary between Derbyshire and Yorkshire) from Redmires Road descending for 1.8km, which is 50% longer than the current trail at Lady Cannings!! “It is going to have a higher technical level, compared to Lady Cannings and will be a great trail to develop your skills. The route will be mainly blue again like Lady Cannings, but with red and maybe even black level opt ins, making it perfect for development and being more inclusive than some of the other trails”.
This exciting new venture comes at a price, though, with a whopping £45k target! But after their success with the last project (thanks to local support), it’s certainly not impossible. “After our achievement with the first trail we thought we could be more ambitious this time. The hope is to open the trail in the summer of 2017.” Cy continued.
This new project ran by Ride Sheffield is just another example of what’s possible when local people come together and support each other, whilst highlighting the strength of Sheffield’s communities. “There really is that community feel here, the mountain biking scene is so strong. In fact, it is world famous for it.” Cy said.
So if you’re an eager mountain biker, or just like to support community projects within your city then your help would be more than welcomed.
In the words of Ride Sheffield:
@ridesheffield New trail crowd funder announced. GIVE US YER MONEY!! #RADmires
http://www.ridesheffield.org.uk/2015/12/radmires-new-crowd-funder-announced/
Donate via Paypal to ridesheffield@gmail.com
Photograph credit: Duncan Philpott
Caption: Mountain Biker at Parkwood Springs, The Outdoor City, Sheffield
Want to learn more about this fantastically outdoor city then check out: www.theoutdoorcity.co.uk
