Wetherby Bike Trails Sprints Ahead With Track Plans

Wetherby Bike Trails are celebrating after their proposals for a children’s cycle path and a pump track were given the backing in the town on two sites between the Harland Way and Millenium field.

And the project would not have been possible without the generous help from a former local couple, who agreed to gift their land to the council for only £1 so the whole community will benefit.

Rob and Ann Watson, lived in the area in the 1980s and had a smallholding at the rear of St Joseph’s RC School, where they kept some rare breed sheep. But when they moved house the area returned to the wild and in recent years it’s been subject to littering and anti-social behavior. Wetherby Bike Trails intend to give it a clean up and enhance it for community use.

"We think the proposals are a great idea, a great use for the land and we think it's a really worthy community project," said Rob.

The first priority now is to build a small cycle loop off Millennium Field for young children, in time to be seen by the TV helicopters covering the Tour de Yorkshire in April. They shouldn't struggle to find it - it's shaped like a foot.

The tracks take their names from the land nearby known as the Devil’s Toenail, where the train lines split on what is now the Harland Way.

"It will be a fun and safe path with some small 30 cm high bumps in it and some corners,” said David Lund of Wetherby Bike Trails. “As a concept we’ve always called it Little Toe and that name will probably stick.”

"We've had brilliant support so far from Wetherby Lions, of almost £1500 for the Little Toe, Wetherby Town Council granted £500, trail-builders SingletrAction £250, the Watson family gifting their land, some donations of our own and we're bidding for grants too. This can all only happen with fundraising.”

"As soon as we build the Little Toe we can concentrate on the next phase which is the Big Toe pump track, plus the loop alongside with features for mountain bikes, but that's going to need a lot more money. We want this to be a success and we intend to work with riders, walkers, dog-walkers and everyone interested in our projects.”

A pump track consists of a circuit of banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders "pumping" - creating momentum via up and down body moments.

Wetherby Bike Trails was only established last August and already they've covered a lot of ground with more than 600 members. The volunteer group is part of SingletrAction (spelt with a capital ‘A’ in the middle) - a mountain bike trail organisation responsible for some of the best tracks in Yorkshire including at Stainburn and Dalby Forest.

As well as the tracks, they are intending to map and waymark a 27 mile off-road bike route around Wetherby and help clear and maintain the trails in the area, working closely with landowners.