June 25, 2021
Trail Advocate of the Year 2021 (F)
You know that one person who just goes above and beyond what is expected of them? That person who encourages others to get involved, puts in extra hours, never complains, and just loves giving back to their trails?
Every year we love to highlight “Trail Advocate Of The Year” for men and women. This is a special award where the nominee must be nominated by someone from their club, crew or just an admirer of their work. The winners will receive a VIP Pro Deal on a Specialized Bike, Evoc Trail Builder Backpack and Suit & Trail Boss Packable Trail Tool.
This year we are very pleased to name Sarah Wälde as female Trail Advocate of the year due to her ongoing advocacy work for her club in Munich. If you were following our ‘Women’s Wednesday’ posts during the month of May, you would have seen Sarah’s article passing by. You can find out more about Sarah’s advocacy work here.
Sarah is currently on the board of her club MTB-Club Munich, which has a total of 480 members, and is the largest club in Munich. Sarah’s position within the board is as spokeswoman/representative of the club when dealing with external club engagements. Part of her role is to keep in close contact with the city council, other associations, insurance companies, media & press and other sports clubs. Furthermore, Sarah is part of the organization team for the Munich MTB Kids Cup, a race series specific for beginners and newbies in MTB racing.
Sarah is a passionate Mountain biker, and believes that mountain biking is the greatest sport that a person could get involved in. She believes that more people should have the possibility to go out and ride their bike on trail close to home. Unfortunately where Sarah is living, legal trails are just not easily accessible, and therefore she wants to be that voice for all mountain bikers advocating for better access. Her biggest motivator in all of this, is nature itself.
“I love to be outside riding my MTB, but as more and more people are doing this, the trails get crowded, new lines are created for example and in the end, it is our beloved Nature which suffers the most”- Sarah W.