Inverness Royal Academy Cycle Hub group was established in 2018 and aims to widen access to all forms of cycling for our pupils, their families and the wider community. Find out more about what we have done by reading our case-study from Cycling Scotland or our nomination for DMBinS Awards 2019.

As part of this broad aim we have established a school MTB club which receives coached sessions, led rides and an annual bikepacking expedition. The club is hoping to develop an already established trail on the school grounds to include skills features such as berms, drops, rock gardens and table tops suitable for MTB and BMX.

Being in the urban environment of Inverness some of our youngsters struggle to get the opportunity to ride technical features in a safe, managed environment. We want to be able to offer coached sessions at a higher technical level and by having a purpose built trail on the school grounds it would be accessible to the club at lunchtimes and after-school, and the community in the evenings and at weekends.

We hope to achieve the following:

Increased participation in extra-curricular MTB club

Develop the sport of MTB by offering grass-route coaching with links to further pathway opportunities including making links to UCI 2023 to inspire competitive pupils

Increased health & wellbeing of pupils with ASN or from low SIMD areas through curricular and extra-curricular involvement in riding, bike maintenance and trail design

Increased participation in mountain biking for girls through providing coaching, role models and targeted activities

Provide leadership opportunities and develop "skills for work" in our school community including building a sense of pride and responsibility for the facility