THE TweedLove bike festival, the celebration of bike riding and good times in the cycle-friendly Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders, now has some impressive figures to demonstrate the success it enjoyed in June 2011.
EventScotland, the national events agency who supported the event in 2011, have estimated the economic impact of all festival events to total £510,000 of additional spending in the area.
With many visitors coming from outside Scotland for the week of bike races and cultural events, the overall additional spend in Scotland was estimated to be £270,000.
TweedLove’s festival director, Neil Dalgleish, said: “I think the local cycling community can be very proud of the economic impact figures for this year’s TweedLove bike week.
“This is another clear sign of how important cycling and bike culture is to the area. I know that we can do even better if we continue to get support from our amazing bike community in the Borders together with businesses and government agencies.
“Mountain biking and road cycling are more or less year-round activities in the Tweed Valley. We’re very lucky to have such facilities on our doorstep and it’s great to see what a contribution they can make.
“We have to keep developing the trails and road routes throughout the valley to keep cyclists visiting the area. What better way to do this than building on the huge success of Tweedlove in 2010 and 2011.”
It seems the success is already being recognised, with the announcement that Alpine Bikes have come on board as TweedLove’s major sponsor for 2012.
Alpine Bikes director, Bryan Shedden, said: “With shops in Glentress and Innerleithen, we’re already very involved in the bike scene in the Tweed Valley, and are very keen to play an active part in supporting TweedLove.
“We know this is a special area for cycling, and we hope to see the festival go from strength to strength.”
Dates for next year’s TweedLove bike festival have also been announced.
The extended ten-day programme of open races, big guided rides (both on and off road), film (including a film-making competition) and concert nights, dual slalom and barbecue and a series of informal ride-outs will run from 26 May to 5 June.
It also includes the double bank holiday in early June.
The programme will again include the hugely successful Glentress Seven endurance event to be staged at Forestry Commission Scotland’s 7stanes Glentress on Saturday 2 June. There are also plans to include other new events including an ‘all-mountain’ enduro event.
Neil Dalgleish added: “Next year, TweedLove will be bigger and better than ever.
“We’re building on all events within the programme that worked well and developing lots more exciting new events to attract even more riders of all ages and experience levels to the area.
“And as we’re including the double bank holiday weekend, it looks like being a bit of a party!”
More info on TweedLove bike festival can be found on the website at: http://tweedlove.com/
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Contact: Paddy Cuthbert
Phone: 07968699636
Email: paddy@podge.co.uk
Website: http://tweedlove.com/
