What's it all about?
Welcome to the Huntly Bike Week History pages!
Huntly Bike Week is an event that takes place annually in Huntly, Aberdeenshire in June. The event is part of the national Bike Week initiative aimed at getting people out on their bikes.
To read more about Bike Week click here to view their website.
Huntly Bike Week is an event that takes place annually in Huntly, Aberdeenshire in June. The event is part of the national Bike Week initiative aimed at getting people out on their bikes.
To read more about Bike Week click here to view their website.
Huntly Bike Week was started by local Mountain Biker and general cycle enthusiast Tim Bowden in 2012, soon after moving to the area and finding that there was very little information available on cycling in the area online or in any publications. Wanting to change this for the better Tim felt that an inclusive cycling event to test the water and see if there was any interest in cycling in the area was a good way to start.
This website was not created until the second event in 2013, but there are some images coming soon to the Images page from the 2012 event. online marketting was done through a FaceBook page and a free £25 FaceBook advert voucher, and with posters and flyers funded by Huntly Development Trust.
At the 11th hour, through a contact at the council GetAbout were enrolled and offered to bring a cycle roadshow to Huntly Bike Week. Autospares of Huntly provided some cycle accessories to give away as prizes at the event, and Helmets and Huntly Walks books were also donated by others. Huntly Bike Shack were just about to launch themselves and came along on the day with a table and some spare parts offering to talk to people about cycle maintenance and there was a Bike Mechanic from a cycle shop in Inverurie providing free basic servicing and safety checks.
Year One was a success, despite slightly overcast weather, and the marketting not going very wide, so on to year Two...
If you look at the events pages from 2013 linked below you will see the four main events that took place that year. 2013 was an important year as it was supported by Aberdeenshire Council, who provided all the printed publicity material, as well as very helpful tips on social media marketting from an Intern who has gone on to bigger things now we're sure, The event was awarded a Cultural Fund (just before the event) which allowed for T-shirts to be printed for volunteers (we'll get to that in a mo!), newspaper adverts in the Huntly Express, and a bigger longer FaceBook advert to be funded. The rest of that fund was used for the 2014 event.
This website was not created until the second event in 2013, but there are some images coming soon to the Images page from the 2012 event. online marketting was done through a FaceBook page and a free £25 FaceBook advert voucher, and with posters and flyers funded by Huntly Development Trust.
At the 11th hour, through a contact at the council GetAbout were enrolled and offered to bring a cycle roadshow to Huntly Bike Week. Autospares of Huntly provided some cycle accessories to give away as prizes at the event, and Helmets and Huntly Walks books were also donated by others. Huntly Bike Shack were just about to launch themselves and came along on the day with a table and some spare parts offering to talk to people about cycle maintenance and there was a Bike Mechanic from a cycle shop in Inverurie providing free basic servicing and safety checks.
Year One was a success, despite slightly overcast weather, and the marketting not going very wide, so on to year Two...
If you look at the events pages from 2013 linked below you will see the four main events that took place that year. 2013 was an important year as it was supported by Aberdeenshire Council, who provided all the printed publicity material, as well as very helpful tips on social media marketting from an Intern who has gone on to bigger things now we're sure, The event was awarded a Cultural Fund (just before the event) which allowed for T-shirts to be printed for volunteers (we'll get to that in a mo!), newspaper adverts in the Huntly Express, and a bigger longer FaceBook advert to be funded. The rest of that fund was used for the 2014 event.
Volunteers are of course vital to an event like this, there is no money in it, no entry fee, no salaried staff so everything is done on a shoe string but to the highest quality possible.
As well as Tim, Patricia Coward volunteered to lead a guided ride around Huntly in 2012. Patricia is a local cyclist who was keen to get involved in Huntly Bike Week to help promote cycling for everyone, Patricia was enlisted again for the same role in 2013, and was joined by another local enthusiast and friend of hers Lorna Yuill, through the FaceBook page and talking to other cyclists in and around Huntly Callum Morrison, previously a pupil of The Gordon Schools and Harris Williamson of Rhynie, still attending the school, volunteered to put themselves in the spotlight at the second event in 2013 riding their trials bike and unicycle respectively. Brodie Murray and Finn Mackrory-Bowden also volunteered on the day with general duties, all were pictured in the Huntly Express wearing their Huntly Bike Week shirts!
At the 11th hour, by email, after reading about it in the local paper keen Mountain Biker and local Dave Simpson got in touch and offered to step up to help out at the Bike Dr stand doing cycle safety checks along with Tim as the Bike Dr that was booked did not materialise!
In 2014 Tim, Dave, Callum, Brodie, Finn, & Harris were joined by Amelie, Isla, Darren, Raonaid, & Marrianne; Patricia and Lorna were unable to attend.
In 2015 a more formal organisers group was formed also attracting the help of Robbie and Mark Smith.
This is now the crew moving forward for the 2015 and beyond Huntly Bike Week events, many thanks to you all, and hopefully more helpers and future members of the organisers committee will come forward as a result of the further success!
For 2016 the event is now organised by the recently formed Huntly Community Cycling group. This is a constituted community group set up locally with the sole intention of promoting cycling for all in and around the Huntly area. Please see their FaceBook page to keep up to date on projects and get in touch with them to ask about becoming a member, there is no cost and you will be able to have your say on how cycling in and around Huntly can be improved.
As well as Tim, Patricia Coward volunteered to lead a guided ride around Huntly in 2012. Patricia is a local cyclist who was keen to get involved in Huntly Bike Week to help promote cycling for everyone, Patricia was enlisted again for the same role in 2013, and was joined by another local enthusiast and friend of hers Lorna Yuill, through the FaceBook page and talking to other cyclists in and around Huntly Callum Morrison, previously a pupil of The Gordon Schools and Harris Williamson of Rhynie, still attending the school, volunteered to put themselves in the spotlight at the second event in 2013 riding their trials bike and unicycle respectively. Brodie Murray and Finn Mackrory-Bowden also volunteered on the day with general duties, all were pictured in the Huntly Express wearing their Huntly Bike Week shirts!
At the 11th hour, by email, after reading about it in the local paper keen Mountain Biker and local Dave Simpson got in touch and offered to step up to help out at the Bike Dr stand doing cycle safety checks along with Tim as the Bike Dr that was booked did not materialise!
In 2014 Tim, Dave, Callum, Brodie, Finn, & Harris were joined by Amelie, Isla, Darren, Raonaid, & Marrianne; Patricia and Lorna were unable to attend.
In 2015 a more formal organisers group was formed also attracting the help of Robbie and Mark Smith.
This is now the crew moving forward for the 2015 and beyond Huntly Bike Week events, many thanks to you all, and hopefully more helpers and future members of the organisers committee will come forward as a result of the further success!
For 2016 the event is now organised by the recently formed Huntly Community Cycling group. This is a constituted community group set up locally with the sole intention of promoting cycling for all in and around the Huntly area. Please see their FaceBook page to keep up to date on projects and get in touch with them to ask about becoming a member, there is no cost and you will be able to have your say on how cycling in and around Huntly can be improved.
To coincide with the 2013 event The Huntly & District Cycle Survey, was launched where folk could have their say on the development of cycling in Huntly and the surrounding area by completing the survey. Results of which can be viewed here www.huntlydevelopmentrust.org
To view any of the specific events that were part of previous year's Huntly Bike Week, please see the archived pages below:
Sat 15th June 2013
Tue 18th June 2013
Thu 20th June 2013
Sat 22nd June 2013
Sat 21st June 2014
Mon 23rd June 2014
Wed 25th June 2014
Fri 27th June 2014
Sun 29th June 2014
2014 Competitions
2015 Events
If you have ideas for this year and for events in the future, or would like to volunteer to help out in some way please get in touch. We are on FaceBook and Twitter so please Like/Follow us or send us an email to huntlybikeweek@hotmail.co.uk
Tue 18th June 2013
Thu 20th June 2013
Sat 22nd June 2013
Sat 21st June 2014
Mon 23rd June 2014
Wed 25th June 2014
Fri 27th June 2014
Sun 29th June 2014
2014 Competitions
2015 Events
If you have ideas for this year and for events in the future, or would like to volunteer to help out in some way please get in touch. We are on FaceBook and Twitter so please Like/Follow us or send us an email to huntlybikeweek@hotmail.co.uk
