A new Angus mountain biking mecca is emerging from the desolation of Storm Arwen.
And it’s largely down to hard graft of one man who created a new four-mile trail through Crombie Park.
Chris Golightly is a long-time fan of the beauty spot, spending hours there walking his dogs.
But he has also developed a new-found passion for sportive events after being a competitive amateur cyclist in the 90s.
He’s taken part in challenges in Lanzarote and Majorca.
And the Carnoustie 53-year-old saw the havoc wreaked by Storm Arwen as an opportunity to create something special for fellow bikers close to home.
His efforts, along with Dundee Thistle Cycling Club colleagues, have delivered a new Crombie XC course which is about to stage its first Scottish event.
He hopes it’s the start of the Angus park featuring on the national mountain biking calendar.
Widespread destruction at Crombie Country Park
Crombie and neighbouring Monikie country parks took a hammering during Arwen in late 2021.
It was almost two years before the destruction was fully cleared.
And Chris saw the re-opening of the paths through the park as a chance to develop the biking trail.
“It was a shame what Storm Arwen did to the park,” he said.
“I was out running and thought it was a great opportunity to develop an MTB course,” he said.
“It’s a pretty brand new trail and there’s been a lot of work to build bridges over bogs and ditches.”
After six months of trail building and collaboration with park operator Angus Alive and Scottish XC cycling, the course is ready to go.
“As folk are busy I just cracked on with trail building on my own,” said Chris.
“I did manage to pull a few folk in to give a hand, but I enjoyed being creative in the forest with my dogs for the greater good of the community.”
Support for mountain bike trails from Angus Alive
“Angus Alive have been so pro-active with the whole thing – really helpful,” added Chris.
“And Scottish XC have been great with collaborating and getting it signed off for an event.
“The aspiration was always to have an inaugural event this year and then hopefully have Crombie on the national series next year.
“Clubs have already come up and ridden it and they’ve really enjoyed it.
“Crombie is relatively flat but it’s arduous enough to make it a good test around the perimeter of the park.
“And I hope people will enjoy coming up to ride the trail for fun.”
The inaugural event takes place on Sunday July 28. The first race is at 11.30am and details are available on the British Cycling website.
“It’s adults only this year and hopefully we can get a good turnout.
“And there’s a two-lap taster session if folk want to try out the trail rather than race,” said Chris.
Nicola Barbour of Angus Alive said: “We are extremely pleased to work with Chris who has been influential in bringing this to fruition.
“As we all know, Crombie suffered enormously at the hands of Storm Arwen back in 2021 and the impact was felt by all.
“We are very excited to be hosting this British Cycling XC MTB event. It is amazing to see something like this happening in Crombie and we can’t wait to see it take place.”
Conversation