Take Care of Your Trails Campaign in Europe
What is TCOYT?
The Take Care of Your Trails campaign is based on a successful pilot project developed by national member Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS). In 2017, IMBA Europe adopted the concept and worked in partnership with DMBinS to turn TCoYT into a pan-European event. The objectives of the TCoYT campaign are to promote trail stewardship & improve the image of our sport; to recognise the work of many MTB volunteers; to encourage new or strengthen existing partnerships; and to protect the places we love to ride.
Take Care of Your Trails 2023
The 2023 Take Care of Your Trails campaign set a new record in terms of volunteer hours contributed by trail crews to maintain, restore or clean up their local trails. Nearly 7500 volunteer hours were reported by approx. 1560 volunteers who took part in one of the total of 75 actions spread over 19 countries. A huge achievement! The TCoYT award ceremony took place at the IMBA Europe Summit in Valposchiavo in front of the 115 international attendees.
2024 Theme
“Trail building education”. In 2024 we would like to make sure the crews that take part have access to trail building and maintenance education. Therefore, we will organise a series of four online trail building and basic maintenance classes. We will go through the general principles of trail maintenance referring to the DIRTT resources / Knowledge Hub. Experts in the field will be invited to join the series as guest speakers. These webinars will be recorded and shared on the IMBA Europe YouTube channel as a resource for all.
Participate
The campaign itself will take place again in May, however, you can now register your event and find out more about the campaign on our website www.takecareofyourtrails.com
Awards
Since the inauguration of the Take Care of Your Trails campaign in 2017, we have taken great pride in highlighting and rewarding the outstanding efforts of trail crews/associations and their dedicated volunteers across Europe.
The “Outstanding trail crew” award recognises the crew who log the most hours of work and gather the most amount of volunteers. This crew organises regular trail maintenance days throughout the course of the year, and communicates and engages well with their local community.
The “Protect and Preserve award” is awarded based on the best community led conservation effort or proposal from a trail association.
The “Trail advocate of the year” and “Youth trail advocate of the year” awards reward individuals who go above and beyond for their local trails and association. This award is given to 3 individuals (a man, a woman, a youth) who have distinguished themself in hours and service to trail maintenance during the past year.
The “Best National Mountain Bike Association” award emphasises the importance of national trail associations and their created impact on their communities and trail networks. This will be recognised as a lifetime achievement.
You are an Industry ? Support TCOYT !
TCoYT campaign is an opportunity for industry to get involved in supporting local crews to ensure that our trail networks remain accessible for future generations. Trail maintenance across Europe is conducted largely on a volunteer basis. Become a partner by sponsoring the awards!