Mountain biking during the TweedLove event this year

A Scottish cycling festival contributed more than £½m to the local economy, organisers said.

EventScotland, the national events agency, said the TweedLove events in June this year brought in £510,000 of additional spending in the area.

The event, which combined road and mountain biking with live music shows, will be repeated next year.

TweedLove’s festival director Neil Dalgleish said: “I think the local cycling community can be very proud of the economic impact figures for this year’s TweedLove bike week.

“This is another clear sign of how important cycling and bike culture is to the area. I know that we can do even better if we continue to get support from our amazing bike community in the Borders together with businesses and government agencies.

“Mountain biking and road cycling are more or less year-round activities in the Tweed Valley. We’re very lucky to have such facilities on our doorstep and it’s great to see what a contribution they can make.

“We have to keep developing the trails and road routes throughout the valley to keep cyclists visiting the area. What better way to do this than building on the huge success of TweedLove in 2010 and 2011?”

Dates for next year’s TweedLove bike festival have also been announced. The 10-day programme of open races, big guided rides – both on and off road, film – including a film-making competition – and concert nights, dual slalom and barbecue and a series of informal ride-outs will run from 26 May to 5 June. It also includes the double bank holiday in early June.

The programme will again include the Glentress Seven endurance event to be staged at Forestry Commission Scotland’s 7stanes Glentress on Saturday 2 June. There are also plans to include other new events including an ‘all-mountain’ enduro event.

Neil Dalgleish added: “Next year TweedLove will be bigger and better than ever.

“We’re building on all events within the programme that worked well and developing lots more exciting new events to attract even more riders of all ages and experience levels to the area.

“And as we’re including the double bank holiday weekend, it looks like being a bit of a party.”

More info on TweedLove bike festival can be found on its website.