Thomas Olesen
is the project leader of “100 km mtb-spor I Viborg”, which is an ambitious project with the objective of not only making Viborg a Danish mountain bike hotspot but a mountain bike destination. And as if one ambitious project wasn’t enough he has just started out helping another 100 km mountain bike trail project to get on its feet. Thomas has worked 8 years in tourism development in a regional development agency working with nature tourism and bicycling tourism and initiated the first professionally built mountain bike trail in Denmark. Thomas has been building mountain bike trails as a hobby for quite a few years and has become more trail builder than mountain bike rider.
Why build 100 km of mountainbike trails – in Viborg of all places?
Mountain biking is booming and from being a sport for the few it is now a sport practised by everyone. From very different perspectives mountain biking is seen as an area with a large potential – improving public health, getting people out in nature, attracting tourists, strengthening local businesses, branding local areas by making mountain bike races and events.
Fulfilling the potential is, however, not to going to happen by itself. It requires a focused effort and most importantly an infrastructure supporting the different segments of mountain bike riders – with good mountain bike trails as crucial components.
Internationally the development of mountain bike trails and mountain bike destinations have been ongoing for more than a decade and Denmark is far behind. In Viborg an ambitious mtb project is establishing 100 km of mountain bike trails and the aim is to fulfil the above mentioned potentials. The presentation will elaborate on the components of creating a mountain bike destination both from the perspective of the project “100 km mtb-spor i Viborg” as well as in an international context.
