Local Community

Tour O The Borders is a mass participation cycle event – it is not a race but a challenge event, with up to 2,500 riders across a wide range of abilities taking part. Many riders also take part to raise money for charity.

The Scottish Borders is an extremely popular cycling destination, and the event helps to attract cyclists to the are throughout the year. The event generates over £500,000 for the local area every year.

The event will be held on closed roads, which will allow cyclists to enjoy their ride in safety. Rigorous event planning is conducted through Scottish Borders Council’s Safety Advisory Group, which includes Police and all the emergency services.

We do appreciate that this event can cause inconvenience to local communities and for this we apologise. In order to minimise any disruption caused, the event is on a Sunday and starts very early in the morning. We have consulted with local communities and members of the public who are affected by the road closures. We have worked hard with traffic management experts and council staff to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum whilst ensuring the safety of everyone involved – event participants, local residents, event staff, and traffic management personnel.

Why will some of the roads be closed for so long?

Due to the broad appeal of the event – from elite riders to charity challenge first-timers – there will be a wide range of abilities of those taking part. This means that the fastest of the riders will complete the course in around three and a half hours with the longest taking up to eight hours. In addition, staff need to put out barriers, signs and cones in safety, so there is usually some time planned within the road closure for this to happen in safety. The longest closure is just over five hours and the average length of closure is three hours.

A team will go round the route in advance of the riders, closing roads and driveways to ensure no vehicles come on to the road, which will be legally closed by a TTRO (Temporary Traffic Restriction Order). Any vehicle contravening the order will be causing the most serious risk to the event participants, and breaking the law.

The road is re-opened behind the last event rider. The event stipulates that riders who do not keep up a minimum speed of 16 kmph will either drop out of the event, or they can continue on the re-opened roads at their own pace.

The new long route will be passing through Moffat, but there will be no road closures in place. The neutralised zone means that timing stops as riders enter, and starts again as riders leave. A great option to stop in one of the fantastic cafes for a quick coffee.

(Provisionally) the first rider will depart Tweed Green at 6.45am, with the final riders leaving at 7.30am.  Very fast riders are expected to complete the course in around 3 ½ hours, with the slower riders completing the course in around 7 ½ to 8 hours.

We work alongside care providers to make sure no-one is left without essential care on the day of the event. If you know of a resident who requires carer access or if you yourself need access for a carer please contact us at 01721 588050 or info@tourotheborders.com.

If you need URGENT medical care when your local practice is closed, you should telephone NHS 24 on 111. You will speak to a Call Handler who will take some details from you and pass your call on to a Nurse Advisor. The Nurse Advisor will make an assessment and recommend a course of action. If required your call will be passed from NHS24 to BECS for either a further assessment, advice or treatment from a local clinician. This information will then be directed to the event Multi Agency Control Centre, which includes event organisers and all emergency services. They will then assess the situation and decide on the best course of action.

Emergency access to all properties and residents on route is maintained at all times. In the event of an emergency, dial 999 as usual. Emergency services will be co-ordinated through our Multi Agencies Control Centre. There may be a unit closer to you than usual so response time may be reduced.  

Please refer to the map of road closure times. If the opening time of the road is too late and you can’t wait, we ask you to contact the emergency services on 101 and inform them of the circumstances. This information will then be directed to the event Joint Agency Control Centre, which includes event organisers and all emergency services. They will then assess the situation and decide on the best course of action. Ambulances will be on the route in places that will maximise accessibility to residents on the course. This will ensure that both residents and riders will be kept safe during the road closures.

It is a requirement that the event route be completely vehicle-free during the event for the safety of participants. Access restrictions will depend on the location and time that the event passes. We are working with the Scottish Borders Council to make sure disruption is minimised along the route and that people living and working on the route are notified well in advance of the event.

Access by car will only be available either before the start of the road closure or after the end of the road closure, no vehicle movements will be permitted during the road closure. 

Any disruption is regrettable but hopefully with prior planning residences and businesses can reduce any inconvenience. We would ask you to not schedule deliveries for the event date (as it is a Sunday, Royal Mail post will not be affected) and to buy extra of any essentials that are necessary.

Yes. The roads are closed to vehicles but you can still travel on foot if you need to.  Please keep to the side of the road and think about safety for everyone – remember bikes will approach silently, and at speed.

No vehicles will be let through during the road closures (except emergency services). We ask that you discuss this with your suppliers prior to the event and work to reschedule deliveries.

For the safety of riders we ask that there be no livestock movement during the time the road is closed. This would offer significant risk to riders and livestock alike. We ask that you plan ahead and bear in mind the closing times of the road.

The road closures are for a set period of time on one day of the year only.  We respectfully ask people to make alternative arrangements for this relatively short period of time – can you shop at another time, re-arrange an appointment or swap your schedules around? We regret any inconvenience, but this event will bring great economic benefit to the area and can be a very positive addition to the Borders’ event calendar and reputation.

If the road is closed, you will not be able to use a vehicle on it during the closure times. There are two reasons why it is necessary to close roads for the Tour O The Borders cycle event. Firstly, around 2000 cyclists will take part in the event so road closures are required for the safety of these participants. Second, cones, signs and barriers need to be set out and taken back in and the staff doing this need to be able to work safely.

For these safety reasons, there are no exemption passes available. We realise that this will cause inconvenience for residents and we will work to ensure that any closures are kept to a minimum and would ask that residents work with us and pre-plan their day where at all possible. Emergencies will always have priority though.

During the rider briefing, riders will be reminded of the Scottish Access Code and regulations regarding littering. We will also provide specific litter stations on the route and a sweeper marshal after the event removing signage and any litter. We work hard to leave the course as beautiful as we found it.

Hillside Outside Ltd is the event organising company, which is the event organising company responsible for the Peebles Hogmanay Torchlight Procession and the TweedLove Bike Festival.

The road closures are being handled by the country’s most experienced traffic management consultants and the Council and all emergency services are directly involved in the planning.

Thank you for taking time to read this. We very much regret any inconvenience caused to local people. We the organisers live locally too, and believe this event plays an important part in the growth of cycling and bike tourism in the Borders.

As an example of a similar style of event, the Etape Caledonia, based in Pitlochry, experienced some opposition in early years, but is now so popular and important to the local economy, that there are now calls for it to be held twice a year, despite a very long course and major road closures.