Dafydd Caradog Davis MBE (born in

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

) is a Welsh

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

trail builder, known for the creation of several major UK mountain biking resorts such as Coed-y-Brenin.

Biography

Davis received an MBE in the 2004

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

list for 'services to forestry'. Davis is an all-round mountain athlete. He has represented his country as a fell runner and is an accomplished rock climber and alpinist. His first significant opportunity to develop mountain bike trails came in the Coed Y Brenin Forest Park in North Wales in the mid-1990s where he was employed from a background of outdoor educational instruction by Forestry Enterprise to develop trails for the new sport of mountain biking. There was limited budget and Davis was innovative in using volunteers, youth organisations and the armed forces to provide the labour needed to build sustainable trails through the forest. The forest park soon developed a reputation for excellent riding conditions, allowing Davis to approach the new

Welsh Assembly The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

and gain funding to develop more riding in Coed Y Brenin, as well as trails in four other Welsh forests. This was achieved, and in 2002 the

International Mountain Bicycling Association The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is a non-profit educational association that aims to create and preserve trails for mountain bikers worldwide. The IMBA promotes mountain biking, trail building, and trail maintenance. The IM ...

announced Wales to be the world's top mountain biking destination. In 2004, Davis left Forestry Enterprise and now works as a free-lance trail developer. He has worked extensively in Ireland, England, Israel, Canada and Japan and has developed methods for trail construction that provide sustainable but challenging routes that are durable and accessible to a range of riding abilities. Davis lives two miles from his home village in the Snowdonia National Park with his wife, Vicky, son Sam and daughter Mollie. He runs, climbs or rides most days. He was inducted into the

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Si ...

in 2020 alongside

Julien Absalon Julien Arnaud Absalon (born 16 August 1980) is a French former cross-country mountain biker, who competed as a professional from 2001 to 2018. He is considered to be one of the most successful cross-country cyclists of all time. Throughout his c ...

and Jason McRoy, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Dafydd Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Welsh mountain bikers British mountain bikers Members of the Order of the British Empire British male mountain runners Welsh male cyclists British male cyclists Sportspeople from Gwynedd Mountain bike innovators