AN entrepreneurial cycling couple from York who are pedalling through a gap in the market are now aiming for the heights.

Steve and Jude Morrison, took a year to put together Scoot Cycling Holidays, which will attract leisure cyclists to North Yorkshire from the UK and all over the world.

They are now pitching for both the New Business Of The Year and Think Green titles in The Press Business Awards 2010.

The couple, who have previously run three successful ventures – two music shops and one in the catering sector – have obtained a rural grant and invested in 30 new cycles tough enough to go anywhere from mountain paths to city centres, offering a collection and delivery service at up to 50 hotels and bed-and- breakfast establishments.

Steve is a keen cyclist – he has completed coast-to-coast races in England and Ireland as well as from Edinburgh to London and London to Paris. Jude’s background is business administration and teaching, and she is a keen walker and horse rider.

Both have a love for their native Yorkshire, which is reflected in the various holiday tours they have formulated, graded for difficulty and vetted for fascination and with starting points at railway stations at York, Selby, Thirsk and Northallerton.

Steve, who for 25 years owned MorMusic in Fossgate, York, before selling up in 2007, was determined to contribute to York’s tourism by creating the tours along with a cycle hire section.

At their base in Stillingfleet, Jude said that there was a growing need for sustainable and enjoyable holidays.

She said: “Scoot intends to grow with this ethos in mind, working with experts in the field of responsible tourism, promoting the Yorkshire countryside and benefiting a number of local businesses.”