The need for a national mountain bike interest group has been apparent in Switzerland for several years, IMBA Switzerland announced in a press release. Initial talks on the establishment of an umbrella organization were held back in 2016. After numerous workshops and rounds of talks, IMBA Switzerland was founded in Bern on March 8, 2019. The board of IMBA Switzerland includes well-known organizations such as Pro Velo Schweiz, the Regional Directors' Conference, the Swiss Working Group for Mountain Regions SAB, the "Freude herrscht" foundation, velosuisse, BikePlan AG, representatives of regional infrastructure associations such as "trailnet.ch - Das Bikenetzwerk" and Swiss Cycling. The President of IMBA Switzerland is Thomas Egger, Director of SAB and a passionate mountain biker himself.

The association arose from the need to represent the interests of mountain biking at a national level. "IMBA Switzerland gives the sport of mountain biking a voice at a national level," says association president Egger. As a charitable non-profit organization, IMBA Switzerland is actively committed to the sustainable promotion of mountain biking as a popular sport in tourism and local recreation in Switzerland. For example, it is committed to legal access to user-friendly infrastructure while protecting nature and the landscape as much as possible, thereby also aiming to increase added value for tourism.The association aims to strengthen contact with the regional associations. In addition to elected representation on the board, the regional associations have the opportunity to become involved in IMBA Switzerland as part of an advisory board. BikePlan AG operates the association's office on behalf of the association. The association is affiliated as a member of IMBA Europe (www.imba-europe.org) and is therefore well networked at national and European level.

With the DIRTT project, IMBA Switzerland is already supporting its first project together with BikePlan AG. As part of this project, which is co-financed by the EU, guidelines for the planning, design, construction, maintenance and management of mountain bike trails are to be created and integrated into the appropriate training structures for professionals and volunteers throughout Europe.
The association is currently in the process of expanding its network and developing projects.

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