Scottish Cycling

Scottish Cyclists' Union SCU
Sport	Cycle racing
Formation date	1952
Affiliation	British Cycling
President	Alasdair MacLennan
Coach	Graeme Herd
Official website
www.britishcycling.org.uk/scotland

Scottish Cycling, legally the Scottish Cyclists' Union (SCU), is the national governing body for bicycle racing in Scotland.

Scottish Cycling is at Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh. It covers road bicycle racing, track cycling, mountain bike racing, cyclo-cross, BMX racing and time trialing.

Scottish Cycling introduced the (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 and Tour of Britain.

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 trials. 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 (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 automous body affiliated to the BLRC. The inaugural meeting at the Clarion Rooms in Queen's Crescent, Glasgow, on 8 December 1946, resolved to ask the Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body, for recognition as the governing organisation in Scotland. The first president was Tom Cook, Member of Parliament for Dundee.

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).

See also

• Sport in Scotland
• British Cycling
• List of cycling clubs in Scotland

External links

• Official website
• Pedal for Scotland 2010
• Scottish Tourist Board - Cycling in Scotland
• Braveheart Cycling Fund
• CTC Scotland
• Scottish Mountain Bike
• List of Scottish cycling websites