SCOTTISH sports tourism is poised for a boost with the news that one of the world events in mountain biking will take place in this country next year.
The Enduro World Series (EWS) combines the two main disciplines of downhill and cross-country biking over gruelling courses that see riders spending up to six hours cycling at a time.
Set up by a Scottish-led group that broke away from the International Cycling Union (UCI) following a disagreement last year, it launched its debut seven-round series this year to capitalise on growing interest in the new sport.
The first three rounds have already taken place in France and Italy, each hosting the maximum number of riders, which exceeds 500 on some of the courses. The fourth event takes place in Colorado in the United States this week.
Scotland is already seen as one of the top five mountain bike destinations in the world, partly thanks to hosting a two-day leg of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William each summer.
Mountain biking is estimated to bring around £120 million to the economy each year. More than one-third of this comes from tourists who are estimated to make 1.5 million trips to places like Seven Stanes in the Borders and to the Highlands every year. The EWS believes that its event will help to build on that position.
Chris Ball, a former Scottish mountain biking champion, is managing director of the new tournament. He said: "We have been talking to EventScotland and various other authorities. We have already identified where we want to stage the event.
"All the relevant players have been incredibly supportive to this point. The UK is a huge player in the mountain biking industry. Scotland leads the way, with some of the best locations and trails, so it makes perfect sense to host a round here."
He said that each of this year's seven rounds are existing events that are being put together into one series for the first time. Partly for this reason, the organisation decided not to sell exclusive sponsorship rights but instead seek contributors.
This made it possible to secure the support of Crankworx in Canada, for example, which is the world's largest mountain biking festival but has never hosted the World Cup because of clashes with its sponsors.
Ball said: "In our first year we have already signed up a number of the names you would see as soon as you enter a cycling shop, like SRAM, Specialized, Trek, Santa Cruz, Cube and Canyon."
He said he resigned his five-year role as the UCI's technical delegate because the union wanted to incorporate Enduro into the World Cup, but was not sufficiently sensitive to the 10 years or so that the sport had already been popular.
Having teamed up with Crankworx and the Enduro associations in France and Italy, Ball said: "We have shot out ahead of the federation. We have shown a lot of success, so there's every chance they will work with us in future."
The EWS, which has been advised by Scottish law firm Harper Macleod, has already received a number of bids from other would-be hosts for next year's event, including from South America, Australasia, Europe and North America.
Graeme McLean, project manager for Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, which is part of Cycling Scotland, said: "Enduro could be really valuable for Scotland. We are working with Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise to create an international strategy. The EWS and World Cup are a big part of that.
"The mountain biking industry would basically come to Scotland for two weeks. It's a chance to launch new products, and showcase Scottish mountain biking to the rest of the world.
"If we can get everybody working together, there is a great deal of potential."
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