Scottish Cycling, legally the Scottish Cyclists' Union (SCU), is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

for cycle sport in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and is part of

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

, the national governing body in Britain.Scottish Cycling Annual Report 2011
/ref> Scottish Cycling is currently located in the

Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome The Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, known for sponsorship reasons as the Emirates Arena, is an indoor arena and velodrome in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, Scotland. Built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, these venues hosted the badminto ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. It covers

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and ...

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

mountain bike racing Mountain bike racing (shortened MTB or ATB racing) is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned ...

, cyclo-cross,

BMX racing BMX racing is a type of off-road bicycle racing. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing. BMX bicycle racing, races are sprint races on purpose-built off-road single-lap race tracks. The track usually consists of a starting gate for u ...

and time trialing. Scottish Cycling introduced the MBLA award scheme (previously

Scottish Mountain Bike Leader Award Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

), qualification in the UK for leading organised groups on mountain biking rides. This award is now simply called the Mountain Bike Leader Award. Scottish Cycling has a performance department to help train and develop Scottish athletes. It also enters Scottish teams for events such as the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...

History

In 1931, Scottish cycling clubs formed a loose association named the Scottish Amateur Racing Association (SARA), which concerned itself with organisation of amateur road

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

s. In 1936, a meeting of all Scottish clubs resolved to form a new body to represent all road time-trialling. This body, the Scottish Amateur Cycling Association (SACA), took over from the SARA in 1937. In the same year, the National Cyclists' Union (NCU) formed a Scottish section to regulate mass-start road and track cycling. Racing on the open road had been discouraged by the NCU since the 19th century for fear that it would jeopardise the place of all cyclists on the road. Mass races were held on private circuits and consequently there were few races. A desire to race on the open road led some clubs to affiliate to the rival

British League of Racing Cyclists The British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC) was an association formed in 1942 to promote road bicycle racing in Great Britain. It operated in competition with the National Cyclists' Union, a rivalry which lasted until the two merged in 1959 to ...

(BLRC) in 1945. The following year, the Scottish section of the NCU reformed itself into an autonomous body affiliated to the NCU, the Scottish National Cyclists' Union (SNCU). In response, in 1947, the Scottish BLRC reconstituted itself into the Scottish Cyclists' Union (SCU), an autonomous body affiliated to the BLRC. The inaugural meeting at the Clarion Rooms in Queen's Crescent,

, on 8 December 1946, resolved to ask the

Union Cycliste Internationale The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing ...

, the world governing body, for recognition as the governing organisation in Scotland.The Bicycle, UK, 18 December 1946, p19 The first president was Tom Cook, Member of Parliament for

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. In 1952 the SCU, SNCU and SACA amalgamated into a single body, which kept the Scottish Cyclists' Union name. That has since been shortened to Scottish Cycling (SC). , the organisation has an annual budget of around £1.7million, around half of which is provided by

sportscotland Sportscotland (officially styled sport), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, pri ...

Governance

Board & Operational Responsibilities

The Board’s primary responsibility is to lead the strategic direction and policy of the organisation. It is also responsible for reviewing the progress being made towards the strategic aims. The organisation operates on a day-to-day basis through employed staff and a number of sub-committees or individual appointments. Matters of policy and strategic direction, together with matters specifically referred to within the rules, are reserved for the Board; other matters are delegated to operational levels. On a day-to-day basis, the Chief Executive is responsible for all aspects of the organisation and for ensuring the effective delivery of the organisation’s corporate strategy. The current Chief Executive is Craig Burn.

Membership

Scottish Cycling is a membership organisation and has seen a steady growth in membership over the last few years as cycling continues to grow in popularity. It measures its membership numbers by those who take out a British Cycling membership & live in Scotland. Scottish Cycling campaigns on behalf of all cyclists and has a comprehensive benefits package, local clubs (172) provide additional support for members, organising many activities and promoting many of the 600 plus events.

References

External links

Official websitePedal for Scotland 2010Scottish Tourist Board - Cycling in ScotlandBraveheart Cycling FundCTC ScotlandList of organised bike rides in and near Edinburgh
{{Scottish Sport

Cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...