EVENTS

Events 2024

Past Events

Dalbeattie Bike Fest supporting the UCI summer of cycling 2023

Scotland hosted the UCI World Championships during August 2023, an event which bought together 13 individual UCI World Championships into one event in a single country.

This was an exciting opportunity to showcase what a great place we live in for cycling with over 2600 participants coming from all over the world. The world's greatest riders coming together in Glasgow and across Scotland between 3rd-13th August to compete at the highest level.

Dalbeattie Initiative’s Project Coordinators Maria Rawlings and Tom Marshall worked together over 12 weeks to organise the Dalbeattie Bike Fest to support the UCI World Cycling Championships #SummerofCycling.

Live streaming the Downhill Races in Fort William on the 5th August  seemed to be the perfect fit, with Dalbeattie Woods being part of the 7stanes and Ae Forest held the Downhill race back in May. Plus, it just so happened many of the finalists were representing Scotland in this particular race. This we hope will inspire many of our young people to aspire to representing their country too in the future!


The key attractions of the day were the Pump Track, Climbing Wall, Live Stream Races, Photoshoot with a Twist and Ebike Tours.  It would be hard to say how many people conquered the climbing wall or tried the pump track but over 200 people attended the event. At times, the auditorium was full of families watching the Downhill Finals (it was never empty during the afternoon), with the last race finishing by 4.30pm.


The event was financially supported by the AHF fund and the D&G UCI grant.


Photos of the event are by David McDonald. 

More photos can be viewed in the gallery.

Dalbeattie's Bike Fest Organises a Photoshoot with a Twist!

The photoshoot with a twist was a new idea Maria and Tom wanted to promote at the event, something different and unusual. Rachel French Photography created an image to look like you were either racing your trike or crossing the Fort William finishing line. The end results were amazing and can been seen below. Even Dame Barbara had a go before presenting the competition winners with their prizes and certificates.  Really pleased how these turned out and everyone who took part recieved a free copy of their photo.

A huge thank you to the pupils from Dalbeattie Learning Campus who submitted some fantastic competition designs. Leading up to the event two competitions were launched.
Primary school aged children were asked to design the event t-shirt which, worn on the day by the volunteers. The winning design was created by Erin Whalen who received a printed t-shirt too. All presented with a certificate, snood, and a water bottle (the runner ups are still to be presented as they couldn’t attend the day).


Winner : Erin Whalen
Runners up : Annie Drummond and Sophia Treeby.

Community Connect Event

The Rocks & Wheels project held a community connect event on Thursday, April 27th at The Maxwell Arms Hotel to see how the old primary school building is starting to transform following the successful application from the Levelling Up fund.


The event provided an opportunity for members of the public to meet some of the design team, ask questions about how the project is developing, see initial design proposals and enjoy refreshments.

 What an amazing Rocks & Wheels Cycle Challenge 2023!

Over 100 cyclists registered for the cycle challenge with cyclists travelling over 50 miles to take part. The team was overwhelmed by the positive support from both locals and visitors. On the day 91 cyclists started and finished the cycle routes taking in the stunning views across Dumfries and Galloway and every finisher went away withs a Rocks and Wheels snood and participation certificate. The tasty burger from Gallovant catering was a hit too.

Feedback was very positive and everyone enjoyed being part of our first ever cycling event. It was lovely to see so many people getting out on their bikes, meeting new people and having fun. We expected to see quite a few road bikes but it was an event for any type of bicycle, so to see e-bikes out on the routes was great, we even had a tandem taking part too.


A huge thank you to the Cycle Challenge Team and all the Marshals who volunteered their time to help make this event a success.

The date for next year is Sunday 21st April 2024.  Follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with event announcements.

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