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 ...

for cycle sport in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and is part of

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

, 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 is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. 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 form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The ...

track cycling Track cycling is a Cycle sport, 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 i ...

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 sanctione ...

cyclo-cross Cyclo-cross (cyclocross, CX, cyclo-X or cross) is a form of bicycle racing. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter (the international or "World Cup" season is October–February), and consist of many laps of a short (2.5–3.5&nb ...

BMX racing BMX racing is a type of bicycle racing which features BMX riders sharing a short single-lap circuit or point-to-point course, with multiple banked corners, jumps and rollers. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing, and sanctione ...

, cycle speedway and time trialing. Scottish Cycling introduced the MBLA award scheme (previously Scottish Mountain Bike Leader Award), 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 is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, UCI Europe Tour events and UCI Mountain Bike events.

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 sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

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 The National Cyclists' Union (NCU) was an association established in the Guildhall Tavern, London, on 16 February 1878 as the Bicycle Union. Its purpose was to defend cyclists and to organise and regulate bicycle racing in Great Britain. It merge ...

(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 (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; ) 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 licenses to riders and enforces di ...

, 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 (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. 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, ...

Responsibilities

Board and governance 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 Nick Rennie.

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 website
*
Scottish Tourist Board - Cycling in ScotlandBraveheart Cycling FundCTC ScotlandList of organised bike rides in and near Edinburgh
{{Sports governing bodies of the United Kingdom

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...