Press release over on Dirt

2016 sees a brand new National MTB Enduro Series hit trails around the UK. The British Enduro Series supported by Marin Bikes will visit seven locations across the country from March-October.

Riders will be treated to a mix of natural and man made courses from fast and flowing to steep and techy. Exact venue details will be announced in the coming weeks and a series website will also be launched very shortly.

Brought to you by MTB Enduro Ltd, the organising team has extensive experience in running successful and well-loved Enduro events such as the popular Mondraker Enduro Series in 2015 and a number of other MTB events over many years. Riders and trail builders themselves, the organisers assure racers of all levels a chilled, ‘ride with your mates’ approach and trails that will keep you buzzing well after the racing has finished.

Every round will offer a slightly different challenge so anyone completing all the rounds can safely say they have ridden and raced on every type of terrain that the UK has to offer!

Spot prizes will be awarded at every round so if you don’t podium, you’re still in with a shout of some swag for your weekend’s efforts.

In 2015, there was much discussion surrounding the rider insurance and full-face helmet debate. The British Enduro Series can confirm that it will be the rider’s responsibility to insure against loss of earnings in the event of an injury and that personal insurance cover is therefore strongly advised. Likewise full-face helmets are strongly advised however they are not compulsory.

So what are you waiting for? Spread the word today and get ready to race your mates at some of the UK’s best riding spots in 2016.

The 2016 dates for your diary are:
Round 1 – Mid Wales 19-20 March
Round 2 – South West England 23-24 April
Round 3 – South Wales, 21-22 May
Round 4 – Scotland 25-26 June
Round 5 – North Wales 23-24 July*
Round 6 – Northern England 24-25 September
Round 7 – Midlands 22-23 October

*This weekend will also be the British National Champs.

Great news. Thats ia everything that was missing from the UKGE, just a sensible, easy to read, press release.

Can’t wait for this.

That sounds very good, 7 dates as well

A couple of the Welsh Gravity Enduro Series dates ‘clash’ with the Welsh rounds…I wonder if that suggests the series might consist of other race series rounds being included under one ‘national’ title e.g EWS-type model?

@orena45 let’s hope so eh? the fewer of these sportives cluttering up our local riding spots, cafe’s and parking spaces the better. 😉

Enduro events such as the popular Mondraker Enduro Series in 2015 and a number of other MTB events over many years

So have the red kite guys have teamed up with??

scottfitz – Member
Enduro events such as the popular Mondraker Enduro Series in 2015 and a number of other MTB events over many years
So have the red kite guys have teamed up with??

I hope so, Neil designs cracking stages.

orena45 – Member
A couple of the Welsh Gravity Enduro Series dates ‘clash’ with the Welsh rounds…I wonder if that suggests the series might consist of other race series rounds being included under one ‘national’ title e.g EWS-type model?

I’d guess they are separate events as they’re separate organizers and the Welsh series only use 3 stages in a mini enduro format, which i’d guess is a little short for a national series. I could be completely wrong though 😀

Ah yeah, good point. Sounds like the BES is going to be more ‘relaxed’ than UKGE, but I doubt mini-enduro-relaxed 😀

shame if there is a clash as Id like to do some of charlie’s races, but if the BES ones are bigger would prob go for those

Sounds positive this.

In addition some of the UKGE dig crew who are SW based are looking at setting up a SW series aswell. BookFace details: –

BRAND NEW FOR 2016
on the release of the news that the UKGE series will not be taking place next year, we have decided to pop the cork on something that has been brewing for a while….

A dedicated Gravity Enduro series for the South West brought to you by part of the UKGE trail crew!

We aim to offer a series for the riders organised by riders based on the high standards you’ve come to expect from the UK series, show casing the very best riding the South West has to offer.

keep an eye out for upcoming announcements on our race format, sponsors, prizes, dates and venues in the coming weeks!

like our facebook page South West Gravity Enduro

and follow us on Twitter @SWgravityenduro

Website coming soon

Please don’t let the Scotland round be the Tweed Valley – the place has been raced to death! What about somewhere wilder? Aviemore or Glencoe could be great.

kimbers – Member

shame if there is a clash as Id like to do some of charlie’s races, but if the BES ones are bigger would prob go for those

Yes that is a shame, I now need to look at the Southern Enduro dates again 😕

No update yet on the BES facebook page, theyve got Marin who were the main UKGE sponsor, so Im guessing its the same BES, or is it different to Si Pattons one?

In 2015, there was much discussion surrounding the rider insurance and full-face helmet debate.

only in response to the UKGE series.

glasgowdan – Member

Please don’t let the Scotland round be the Tweed Valley – the place has been raced to death! What about somewhere wilder? Aviemore or Glencoe could be great

probably Ae since UKGE had a round there and its in the south of scotland.

probably Ae since UKGE had a round there and its in the south of scotland.

or Kirroughtree

For the first year at least, I think they will us fairly established areas for racing, so would assume tweed valley will be used. I think it will be very similar to the UKGE in a lot of ways.

Lets face it, on the venues list, you’ve likely got Dyfi in mid wales, triscombe, Shropshire, Afan and The lakes (Grizedale?). So all UKGE venues.

Mid wales will be the red kite venue not Dyfi I guess.

So we have 2 BES next year and 3 national champs?!

❓

Please don’t let the Scotland round be the Tweed Valley – the place has been raced to death! What about somewhere wilder? Aviemore or Glencoe could be great.

Except anything north of the central belt would rule out the majority of English/Welsh riders entering, so would be quite ‘risky’.

kimbers – Member

So we have 2 BES next year and 3 national champs?!

BES + champs1 = Red kite guys
BES + champs2 = BDS guys
champs3 = ??

Was parr not running some kind of event too? = champs #3

Ah, I’ve just seen BED/BDS’s Facebook post mentioning a 5 round series!

This could get interesting (and confusing)!

For Scotland it’s bound to be tweed valley or ae, they’re great venues in the right place and in year 1 they’d be daft to take any risks with either of thse things. If it’s not inners I will eat my marzipan open face helmet though

Unless there’s 2 national series in which case we’re going to have to have a referendum

might as well face that it’ll be Inners. Would be nice if they came up with another good location though, even if it’s still in the valley

wondered if Pattons series would take in Ft Bill as he knows the venue!?

But BDS rounds also been at Ae and Inners?, so tough to tell really

Im guessing for 1st year will be existing trails at established venues, UKGEs this year have usually included some really good fresh cut stages too, so be interesting to see what they come up with, Red Kite also make their own trails? whereas BDS have more experience using existing tracks?

Also wondering about price of the 2 series

90 quid BES x5 (based on BDS pricing)
50 quid BES x7 (based on Red Kite pricing)

The official British Enduro Series is organised by the BDS Team. Nothing to do with Redkite. Guess they were not aware that we already grabbed the series name, Facebook. Twitter, www etc.. And announced this last week.

Looks like confusion reigns.

Wrecker is that from Facebook. 2 national series will make things interesting especially if there already fight over a name!

Wrecker is that from Facebook. 2 national series will make things interesting especially if there already fight over a name!

Yes, it’s a direct quote from Si Paton.

Only one way to settle this

Enduro duel

Neil vs Si

Interesting times. If Red Kite have already secured sponsorship and venues and manage to pull in enough sponsorship revenue to keep coatings at the £50ish mark, they could well pip Si at the post I reckon.

Doubt it, no disrespect to them, but they could barely get 100 entires to their races this year. The friends I have who did them weren’t particularly complimentary of the setup. Apparently they made an Enduro1 look like a BDS in comparison.

Paton is a bit like Marmite, but you know he runs a pretty tight ship and with the BDS exposure & setup he’s pretty much good to go for a National series.

Good news regarding the stupid insurance rules, and FF. glad to be able to make it my choice 🙂

Good evening everyone. To put the record straight:

We have been planning our British Enduro Series for about a year now. I made it clear at the last meeting of the Enduro Organisers meeting.

The series is the evolution of the Red Kite/Mondraker series. We have started a new company to run the series and also to give us a chance to rebrand the series as it’s own identity. Red Kite will continue to run with it’s mini marathon/challenge type events.

We will be using one of the UKGE venues in 2016. So you can expect to be racing on some brand new venues. This will be worthy of a national series. Anyone who raced one of our races this year will know that we do not mess about when it comes to tracks.

We are not using the Tweed Valley or Dyfi. Trust me on the venue choices.

We have some great sponsors already lined up. Marin are the title sponsor. Other sponsors will be announced over the next few weeks.

There is no ‘official’ British Enduro Series. British Cycling to my my best knowledge still do not recognise Enduro as a valid format.

I will not be getting into a spat with Si.

Any other questions post here and I will answer.

It seems that there is a disagreement.
All I’ve read of both Si and Neil says that they are top people, I hope this can be resolved amicably and in the best interest of UK MTB.

Si could you email me at events@redkite-events.co.uk or ring me 01591 610130. In my opinion we need to resolve this asap.

Neil of Redkite has been busy setting up a national Enduro series for a year without keeping tabs on his Mondraker series with very low entry’s?
No idea why brands would consider such a small promoter taking his eye off the ball?

Mondraker UK must be so pleased there investment into a series is wasted for Neil to work hard on a national.

British Cycling to my my best knowledge still do not recognise Enduro as a valid format.

That is my understanding too, if BC want back in they will have do a better job than before they dropped enduro

See what you’ve done, British cycling !

Now we have a schism

I second Scott