Shona & Zac Bowie, Bellshill Pump Track, North Lanarkshire

Zac gets so much out of coming here, it uses all his energy and focuses his mind. He’s got additional needs, so it’s given us something that his brain can focus on.

The pumptrack is a good fun place to go, I come here and I just have fun jumping ramps...I’ve made some pals being here, it’s just really fun.

Shona Bowie and her son Zac have been visiting the Bellshill pump track at Strathclyde Country Park all summer, a facility built in October 2022. Zac has autism, and BMXing has become an outlet for him to focus his mind and get out some energy.
The pump track is used by Social Track – a group that uses BMX and mountain biking to challenge the cycles of poverty and get people active.

Shona Bowie

“Zac gets so much out of coming here, it uses all his energy and focuses his mind. He’s got additional needs, so it’s given us something that his brain can focus on. Its somewhere he can feel safe and do all his madman stunts.
It’s great for socialising as well - we’ve linked up with the guys from Social Track, and there’s such a good community feel, we feel so welcome here. We’ve been coming every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the summer holidays. Now that school’s back, he’ll be a wee bit time-limited but we’ll try to come down as much as possible.”

Zac Bowie

“The pumptrack is a good fun place to go, I come here and I just have fun jumping ramps. We come here twice every week right now. I used to borrow my bike from [Social Track] but then we bought it from them. I’ve asked if I can spray paint it red. I’ve made some pals being here, it’s just really fun.”

Dan Scott: Managing director of Social Track

“Bellshill was built in October last year, but it’s been a four-year long project. We spoke to North Lanarkshire council after the huge success of Wishawhill Wood Pumptrack in Craig Newton Wishaw, an area of deprivation. When it was built, people asked ‘why are you building it here?’ but that’s who need it, those are the kids who want the sense of community that a lot of young people don’t have.

Even though our staff are bikers or skaters, youth care and social work are our background. The track had paid for itself in three months in the amount of preventative work it did.

We’re only 4 miles away from Wishaw, but it may as well be 400 miles away, the social issues are so different. Knowing there were limitations to that pump track, we knew we would need to allow for progression as people came and grew their skills. We needed mountain bike trails, and skill sessions to progress young people and school group skills. The team at Strathclyde Country Park was looking for development, and it fit well with the needs for the pump track.

It’s been so well used, we’ve had thousands of people visit – people are travelling up to 20 miles to come here, which shows just how much it was needed. A lot of the kids don’t realise how good this park is, there are only two like this worldwide and it’s incredibly bespoke. It’s built by Velosolutions, which makes it the Rolls Royce of Pump Tracks. We hope to see more facilities built here and in Wishaw in the future.”

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