Anyone who was at the 2003 Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William, Scotland, will know what a splendid event it was. And as if confirmation were needed, the event has just won a Scottish Thistle Award, Scotland’s tourism ‘Oscars’. The World Cup was Area Tourism Initiative of the year, in recognition of bringing so many people into Fort William for the weekend that the nearest accommodation with any vacancies was about thirty miles away.

Mike Jardine of event organisers Rare Management said, “Winning this award is recognition for everyone who’s been involved in and supported the World Cup. It came about because a lot of people had confidence in the project and were prepared to back it and put
a lot of time and effort into making it a success.”

“It also flags up the fact that we have great resources in Fort William and we can put on world class events in the Highlands. We worked hard to make sure it wasn’t just a sporting event happening near Fort William. We brought a whole festival of mountain biking action into the town and tried to involve the local community as much as possible.”

The Area Tourism Initiative award was open to “projects designed to increase the visitor’s understanding, knowledge and enjoyment of an area, be it through a product, service or the area itself.” Entries were judged on their ability to encourage the visitor to spend more, stay longer and return. Clearly the World Cup did a great job, with 15,000 spectators (45% of them from England) and 89% of them spending at least one night in the area.

And the UCI are clearly pretty happy with the Fort William event – watch out for three-way XC, DH and 4X action on the Nevis Range on 5/6 June 2004. More Fort Bill World Cup stuff at www.fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk.