Lets see if we can put a chair lift on a Mountain in South Wales. Started April 2006. Please do not confuse this project with recent press speculation about a chairlift at Afan Forest (11/6/2006). I truely believe that a chairlift should be put in the best place in South Wales for a successfull MTB park. This is NOT Afan or Cwmcarn.
Back in 1998 I met the Forestry Guy responsible for Mountainbiking and asked him how we could go about getting a chairlift on a mountain in South Wales. He sent me away and said 'First step is to prove there is a market for such a thing'
Well this is what I've been doing over the past few years amongst a few other things. I think now we have established that there is a requirement for a DH MTB venue serviced by a chairlift. The popularity of DH uplift days in South Wales and elsewhere has made the Forestry Comission sit up and look at what we are doing. They rightly have concerns about some of the methods uplift providers are doing things and are pushing for change. This may be bad in the short term, but good in the long term. I currently spend £60,000 to £80,000 per year on DH uplift transport, this is by running 6 - 7 events monthly during the Spring/Summer/Autumn and Practice events twice monthly throughout the year.
Forestry Comission in South Wales are proud of what we and they have achieved here. We have some of the best tracks in the UK. Cwmcarn, Rheola, Mountain Ash, Gethin, Abercarn, Mynydd Du, Wentwood, all on Forestry Comission land. We pay good money to F.C. for the use of this land for our events and practice days. F.C. puts this money back into maintaining it's MTB venues around South Wales (Cwmcarn and Afan Forest Park). They also get all the money they make from us matched by Welsh Assembly government. So we are valuable to them and like I said they are proud of the tracks we have on their land.
Just a quick note: F.C. want to discourage use of these tracks (except Cwmcarn, which is a manned site) outside of organised events and practice days. The reason is Safety, there is no-one on site to pick up broken peeps and look after them. To offset this they have encouraged me to run more regular practice days on the tracks we have. Another note: Do not take motorised vehicles into the forests of South Wales for the purpose of giving lifts up the tracks. This is illegal and will cause all sorts of problems with our relationship with F.C.
Back to the Chairlift:
If we want a chairlift, someone has to pay for it. We will of course be going for all sorts of grants and Government assistance.
But, from my experience, if you have nothing, it is very hard to get any further, the first thing they ask is 'What are you going to put into it?'. So I had an idea.
So, THE FUND
The Dragon Downhill 'CHAIRLIFT IN FIVE YEARS OR YOUR MONEY BACK FUND' The idea is we raise money from various sources, IT COULD BE YOU! and Dragon DH activities to help stick a covered chairlift on a hill (like Rheola, or somewhere else suitable) and build ourselves a UK style MTB resort with loads of trails graded from easy to extreme. I truely believe that the best people to fund something like this is YOU, not some investment bankers sitting behind desks in London.
FINANCIAL DETAILS OF THE PROPOSED FUND
To raise the money we are asking people involved in DH activities in the UK to put their hand in their pockets to invest in this future. A chairlift will be for them and I believe they are the best people to provide the initial funding for the project. The money will be donated as a loan and held by a solicitor in an interest earning account (sometimes known as an escrow account) until we can use it, or give up on the project after five years and give it back (I'll be disappointed and surprised if we do this, but we have to consider it). We will of course have a legal agreement drawn up to cover this and provide people with assurances of where the cash is and how they will get it back in the event that the project does not go ahead. I'm hoping it will only take a year or two to bring it off, but sometimes things take a few years to gather momentum. People will be investing on the future of DH in the UK with this project and at the very minimum, people who stump up now will at least get their money back plus interest even if the project does not go ahead.
I hope that people will be able to get a return on their investment, it might be financial or chairlift rides for life, but I cannot commit to how this might happen as apparently this would constitute investment advice and I'm not regulated to provide this (I'm sure you all love those messages you get on adverts or on the telephone answereing systems of finance and insurance companies) . When the time comes, we will seek appropriate external advice as to how this could be achieved from organisations such as the Welsh Development Agency, the Small Business Service etc. We will of course also be consulting those who stumped up the cash for their input, as they have an interest in whatever the end product turns out to be. When we have a reasonable amount of money together I will be going to see the Welsh funding bodies to ask their advice on how best to shape the business in order to make it suitable for funding. There are loads of avenues for funding in South Wales, we will look at them all. When we have the money together we will finalise which venue would be best, get an agreement with the landowner and do it.
I doubt we will raise enough to pay for the whole job, but if we raised a substantial enough sum it would demonstrate serious interest in the project. You never know we might even get there on our own. I think this is the best way of starting/funding such a project as the people who want it will get a stake in it. To raise £250k all we need is 250 people with a £1000 each.
Like I said, we are looking down other funding avenues as well and will be forming a group to take the project on. Don't hold you breath, these things take time. I still believe a good chunk of investors money from inside the sport would be the best way to take this forwards, particularly to begin with.
The Venue
The actual specific hill or land owner is unimportant. Once we have the money we will put it on the most suitable location available (ample parking, soil conditions, height of hill, gradient etc). Partnership with the Forestry Commission might be the best way forwards as they are a principal land owner, but we are considering private options as well.
In the South Wales Valleys, or should I say South Wales Mountains. Two and a half hours from London! Bristol and Cardiff airports on our doorstep. The Welsh Assembly and WDA have spent millions and millions attracting businesses to South Wales in the past, they stay until the grant aid runs out, then move on to the next attractive area. Here we have already got the mountains, we don't have to pay them to stay or buy them in. Lets use them.
The MTB park:
Downhill tracks graded from easy (wind in the hair whizzing down the hill for novices) to Extreme DH. Northshore tracks -Imagine a full Northshore downhill track the length of Rheola, who needs rollercoasters, Freeride tracks and a Freeride/Dirtjump park, A 4X track, pumptracks for training, all sorts eh?
We'll also need a Bike Manufacturer partner when we get the thing up and running. I guess now would be the best time for a Bike Brand/Manufacturer to declare their interest and commitment.
Do you know of any potential investors, would you like to be a part of this park???
Just for now I am looking for genuine pledges and offers of help. I'll be working on this properly come the Autumn when I'm not so busy.
Offers so far (started 12th April 2006)
Dragon Downhill £10,000
Barrie & Olwen Williams £1000 - £2000 or more depending on location
Nick Farrant £1000
Timothy Press £1000
DC/Berg - Burgtec/5:10 £1000
Adam Clarke £1000
Anonymous £1000 (I can vouch for the source)
Fenwicks (cheers Jon) £5000
Robin Bramley-Moore £1000
Julian £1000
James Martin £1000
Rich Turner £1000
Extreme Medics (Jamie Todd et. al.) £1000
Paul Clayton £1000
Manchester's Team Sperm mountain bike club £1000 - c/o Tristan Mayor
Descent Gear, Simon Paton - £1000
Anonymous 2 £1000
Nick York £1000
Matt Holt £1000
John Beach £1000
James Goddard £1000-2000 (call it £1000 for now)
Matthew Butterfill (Butterfill Flooring) min. of £1000
Anonymous 3 £1000
Nev Duggan £1000
Cotic Cycles (Nottingham Rider Syndicate) £1000
Summit Cycles, Aberystwyth £1000
Anonymous 4 £1000
Don Skene Cycles, Cardiff
Total so far £43,000 (30th June 2006)
eMail me if you are interested in this idea, SERIOUS offers only please, or have any good ideas or skills to add.