Peebles and the surrounding area are synonymous with mountain biking. With one of the most popular destinations for mountain biking in Scotland, Glentress, situated on its doorstep it’s no wonder young people in the area are wanting to develop their skills on two wheels.
Primary school pupils in Peebles have been learning new bike skills that they can take to the trails thanks to a programme involving Active Schools, Tweedale Community Sport Hub, and Borders College students.
An 8-week block of coaching was delivered to 66 children from three primary schools (Kingsland, Priorsford and St Ronans) in the Peebles area and taught vital skills that would allow them to develop their knowledge and understanding of riding a bike safely. The children expressed an interest in mountain biking but hadn’t previously engaged in any previous activities.
The young people were delivered the sessions by students on the Borders Academy of Sporting Excellence (BASE) Mountain Biking course at the Borders College, which allows students to further their skills as a mountain biker alongside completing qualifications.
The course has been hugely successful and among its alumni has been Mountain Bike World Champion Reece Wilson and national champion Greg Williamson.
As part of the course the students are required to complete a coaching placement as Active Schools Coordinator for the Peebles primary cluster, Paul Murray said:
“One year of students at the college need to deliver a block of coaching, while another needs to organise an event. There isn’t enough capacity in local clubs to accommodate all the students but there is extra demand from our primary children for activities.
"Offering the students’ skills to the primary cluster prepares the children for our own Cycle Skools programme and for entry into the local clubs. It also gives the students real world practice with younger ages which throws up challenges that can’t be replicated in a classroom.”
The sessions were delivered in the playgrounds at the schools and involved common bike handling skills that could be easily applied to navigating down mountain bike trails, like balancing, steering, and controlling your speed.
The coaching was supported by Tweedale Community Sport Hub who are part of the national sportscotland community sport hub network that brings sports clubs and community organisations together to improve the contribution sport and physical activity has within communities across Scotland.
The hub were able to bridge the link between Active Schools, the college and local cycling clubs who have extensive experience of working with the primary age group, and they also provided the equipment needed to run the sessions.
Bike festival
The programme culminated in a bike festival for the pupils to showcase their skills which was also organised by the college students. The festival was held at St Ronan’s Primary School at the end of March, with the pupils switching between four activity skill stations involving slalom course, wheel lifts, an obstacle course and a game requiring the young people to hop on and off a box.
The day finished with some fun races in school grounds and then a medal ceremony and podium places for the top performing pupils.
Chris Bryant, Community Sports Hub Officer for Tweedale Community sports hub said: “It is great to see so many new faces having a go at mountain biking.
"The skills they have been practising in the playground are essential to safely accessing some of the fantastic mountain bike trails we have locally and the BASE students have got the knowledge and skills of racing and riding those trails at an extremely high level.
"Being able to teach at a level appropriate for the children is a good test for them.
“Despite the weather, the festival was a huge success with lots of smiling faces. Who knows, we could be looking at future mountain bike world champions!”
Read more
- Active Schools
- Community sport hubs
- Follow Live Borders on Facebook
- Learn more about the BASE mountain biking course
