The Aviemore 100 is a road and mountain bike event taking place, believe it or not in Aviemore, on Saturday 12th May to raise funds for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.
The brainchild of your 2016 Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) ‘Local Hero’ Sally Devlin simply to get an event coming through Aviemore during the long summer days in one of the Highlands’ best locations.
Pete had a chat with Sally to see where the Aviemore 100 came from and what people can expect.
Photos by Kirsti McIntyre unless otherwise stated.
Sally and Mum Jenny out for a blast.
Who is Sally Devlin?
Hello! I’m a keen cyclist from Aviemore in the north of Scotland, if I’m not cycling I’ll be found either working in my family’s business (Mikes Bikes Aviemore) or out skiing.
What’s your background in cycling?
Back in 2010 my parents had this idea to open a bike shop, and so they did, at that point I was a teenager and still at school and wasn’t particularly interested in the shop. However after working my first summer in the shop helping with the bike rental side of things I was totally hooked. I worked hard to get my highers in 5th year to allow me to leave school and work full time in the family business. Oh and ride bikes! I have never looked back.
Not only have I gained work experience and skills from the shop it also opened up the whole world of cycling to me. I love to get out on my bike whenever I can, I will always ride after work when I can on the local trails such as High Burnside or in the Rothiemurchus and Glenmore Forest for a more mellow ride. When time allows I love to explore on my bike and see new places. Through cycling I have also met some great characters, some of which I now call my best friends?!
I also enjoy having a bash at racing my bike (road or mountain), when time and money allows. Most recently I competed in Relentless 24 as part of a mixed quad, despite one member breaking his collarbone we managed to take the win! Who knows what 2018 will bring…
The Mikes Bikes Team out in force. Sally is 4th from right.
What’s your background in the cycling industry?
Over the past 5 years I have worked full time in the shop and gained an invaluable knowledge of the cycling industry. As it is a family business we all muck in with most jobs, this has allowed me to gain experience on most aspects of the industry from day to day selling bikes, running events, renting bikes or getting out on the trails guiding. I will admit the only thing I don’t muck in with is the workshop – I don’t think they would let me in there.
In 2016 I was awarded the Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) ‘Local Hero’ award as recognition of my involvement in our local cycling community. A huge part of my job is organising social rides and events for Mikes Bikes, these can be anything from our maintenance classes, weekly shop rides or rides with world class riders attracting 100 + riders.
How did the Aviemore 100 come about?
The general idea came from my experience of doing events. I like taking part in different types of cycling events to enjoy the challenge and always felt like there was something else that could be done.
Personally I would never do a triathlon, I don’t have the time to train in three sports and most of all I am an awful swimmer! So I thought there must be others like me who love to ride their bikes, whether it’s road or mountain, who want a different kind of challenge.
And without sounding like a cliche I enjoy giving back to the cycling community, like everyone else I moan about events I don’t like and take part in plenty without marshalling so why not organise something myself?
How did you choose the route for the event?
Firstly we decided that we need a big area for our event hub as it will house the start, transition, finish, refreshments and most other things. We had a think and the obvious choice was the large Hayfield area in Glenmore just outside Aviemore.
The road loop was an easy choice, it is by far one of my favourite summer road loops and was easy to adapt to starting and finishing at our event hub. It’s fast and takes in smooth quiet roads. There are a few punchy climbs and some long straights where you can really put the hammer down.
The mountain bike route was not so easy. We are fortunate enough to be hosting our event in a National Park but this means that there are various no go areas so that we do not disturb wildlife. However the team at the Glenmore Forest Park have been extremely helpful and understanding and have gone out of their way to support our event.
There are probably easier places to host a mountain bike race however a major factor for organising the event is that we want to bring a cycling event to Aviemore. There are currently only a handful of cycling events hosted in Aviemore.
Are there plans to change the route over time?
I guess this will depend on how the event goes in May, I’m sure like most things we will find out what people dislike fairly quickly.
What kind of red tape did you have to cut through to get the event off the ground?
So far most things have been quite straight forward (touch wood), the hardest part has been organising the mountain bike route but there is nobody to blame for that. It’s just a case of persevering with landowners and coming to a mutual agreement, there is no point in falling out as then you definitely won’t be able to organise your event!
What advice would give to anyone looking to organise a similar event?
If I had to give one piece of advice it would be to work with people that know what they are doing if/where you can. I could not have organised this event on my own, it looks easy from the other side of the racing tapes but I can assure you it is not.
Simple things like writing out event rules and thinking of all the ‘what ifs’ for risk assessments take up so much time and are really not my forte. Personally I have l enjoyed designing the route, the event branding, reaching out to potential competitors and organising the event hub (all the ‘nice’ jobs) and having a great team that I know will complete other important jobs is a huge weight off of my shoulders.
How many people make up the team behind event and what do they do?
A lot! At the moment there are four of us working daily on the event, two from Mikes Bikes and two from CHSS. On top of that all of the staff at Mikes Bikes have been tasked with Aviemore 100 jobs and will have more on the run up to the event (sorry guys!) and I am sure Paul from CHSS has tasked many of his staff with Aviemore 100 related jobs.
On the day we will be supported by a team of volunteer event helpers, they will be doing everything from route signage the day before to the mass tidy up in the days after the event. I have even volunteered my Granny as a helper!
How did the collaboration with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland come about?
Before opening the bike shop my mum organised adult training courses and worked alongside Paul Corrigan from CHSS on many events and fundraisers. Paul is a keen cyclist and lives close to Mikes Bikes so we thought we would put our idea to him and he agreed to be involved!
Our reason for partnering with Paul and the team at CHSS is that we would simply not have the skills and expertees on our own to run a successful event. We brainstormed our own skills and weaknesses and came up with a list of who would be responsible for what and so far it is working really well.
Another great thing about our collaboration is that it adds a charity aspect to the event with all profits going to a good cause. This gives people the opportunity to gain some sponsors for the event if they wish which adds to the challenge of completing the Aviemore 100.
What did you have to sacrifice to get to this stage?
At the moment I have not had to make too many sacrifices with exception of the odd meeting after work however nearer the time I expect to spend most of my days off riding the routes, picking up various bits of equipment that we need, planning our event hub and other bits and bobs like that.
Did you have day jobs that you had to give up?
Luckily for me the Aviemore 100 comes under my umbrella of work at Mikes Bikes. The great thing about this is that it means I can focus a large amount of my time on the event without having to juggle a day job alongside it.
Photo by Paul Masson.
How make or break is the event for you?
Our main aim with the Aviemore 100 this year is to see if the idea will work and if people like it, we are by no means going to be millionaires out of it. As mentioned previously we are also really excited to simply be bringing a cycling event to Aviemore and give back to our cycling community.
How did you learn what you needed to know to get the event off the ground to the point where you could open entries?
Organising cycling events at Mikes Bikes over the years has taught me about all the little things that need to be done to host a successful event. Simple things like researching what other events are happening to avoid clashes all had to be done before we even decided whether the event would happen in 2019 or 2018.
In addition I have previously helped with the organisation of a local womens XC event in Aviemore ‘Ride Like a Grrl’ and although I didn’t play a huge role in organising the event I learnt a lot about what needs to be organised before you can begin to promote your event with regard to land access and safety cover.
One of the first things we did was contact the Forestry Commission regarding the mountain bike route and the Council and Police regarding use of the roads. Paul and CHSS provided some great advice and contacts,
once we had permissions it was a huge weight off of our shoulders and we knew we could run our event.
After the route was sorted we could begin work on opening entries, we are in a fortunate position that CHSS host their own entry system so this made things very easy for us.
Where next for you and the Aviemore 100? How do you plan to go about getting extra helpers etc. etc.?
Entries opened over the weekend of the 27th of January so we have the next three months to shape our event now that the time consuming and compulsory jobs are done.
Over the next few months I will be organising the food and drink for the event, constantly checking the route, managing our social media/web presence, liaising with competitors, gaining sponsorship and prizes and anything else that may crop up on the run up to the event.
The final push a month before the event will be pinning down volunteers to help on the day. Both ourselves and Paul Corrigan live local to Aviemore and are well connected so we hope that between the two parties we will be able to bribe enough of our friends to come and help for a few hours! Entrants will also be receiving an email to remind them that they need marshalls in order to race so hopefully they will also be able to bribe some friends too.
We can’t afford to pay marshals but we hope to entice them with the promise of a free lunch and Aviemore 100 goody bag!
Anybody to thank at this point in the journey? Long suffering spouses/parents/friends?
Yes…
Firstly to my parents for listening to all of my ideas (I come up with a lot) and deciding that the Aviemore 100 was a good idea and that they would support it.
Secondly to all of the Mikes Bikes Race Team. These guys are not just a team of competitive, unsociable racers, they give up a large proportion of their time to help out and support our shop events. Without them volunteering to come down on their days off to lead rides, hand out freebies and just generally be awesome most of our events couldn’t run. They boast a large number of skills such as first aid trainers, qualified guides and photographers to name a few and will play a huge roll on the day at Aviemore 100. Thanks Team!
And finally to all of our loyal customers at Mikes Bikes. By supporting the shop you are helping us to give back to the cycling community and we hope that you will enjoy this event as much as us!
