We know that there are lots of people looking for a career in (or at least tangentially related to) mountain biking. Thing is, there aren’t actually all that many opportunities. The continuing development of purpose-built MTB trails, though, brings some more into play.

Which brings us neatly to Scotland’s 7Stanes trail project. According to FC Scotland, in the three years that the project has been running, the seven MTB centres across the south of Scotland have brought nearly £3million into the region’s economy and helped to create 71 job opportunities in accommodation, catering, bike shops, that kind of thing. But those jobs aren’t the ones we’re talking about here.

The 7Stanes project team currently consists of two people. Well, one and a half, really – one of them’s part-time. But with the EU-supported project having just been awarded a further £1.7million and diversifying into facilities for novices, families and community groups, the team needs to get bigger. So it’s recruiting for a range of posts to support the project until the end of 2007.

It’s looking for a full-time Project Manager (a biggie, that one – the Project Manager will essentially be running the whole show), a part-time Lead Development Coordinator, two part-time Development Coordinators and a part-time Technical Officer. The main focus of the next phase of the project will be to widen access to mountain biking, so the new project team will be working with community groups to bring MTBing to a whole new range of people. A new network of family-friendly beginner’s trails are to be built at each centre, along with skills loops to help build bike handling confidence.

More details (and application forms) on the posts is available at www.forestry.gov.uk/vacancies. The closing date for applications is 12 September 2005.