Hi all,

20:12 event in October 1 & 2 at Hadleigh Park has been cancelled due to poor pre entries. I was looking forward for this 12 hours night race. Ths cx race is still on.

The ERLESTOKE BLAST 18th September 2016 at Erlestoke cancelled
Forest of Dean XC enduro MTB, same dates as Erlestoke, cancelled.

Popular Thetford mtb winter series stopped running last winter. Instead there were the G8 events, very interesting series with poor attendance. Haven’t seen anything announced for this winter.

Too many races for the number of mountain bikers? Also I think organising an event is difficult and expensive…

lots of events to choose from, mountainbikers in general have more demands on their time (family etc) than they did in the glory years so have to pick and choose, thanks to online pre-entry people can look at the weather forecast the week before and decide to enter then if it looks nice rather than send a cheque months before and just man up to whatever the Gods decide, organising an event is difficult, expensive and sucks the organisers life away and at some point they have to draw a line…

People only per enter in numbers if the event is going to sell out

Yes organising is expensive and troublesome. IMO there is a bit of an overload of events, more summer Enduros are grabbing the attention and £ I suspect too.

Preponderance of ‘me too’ events means the calendar is increasingly crowded, few with a real USP and event regulation to clamp down on dodgy ones means more work, with necessary overheads costing more all the time.

By no means just an MTB problem, a big cull of road sportives is well overdue

Kings Lynn MTB club have taken on the thetford winter series. First one is in October.

They’ve put on a few good events already so I’m looking forward to see what they do with the series.

Feels to me like a general shift in fashion tbh… SDA is always worrying about numbers too.

I’m going to say the #E word 😆 As a contributing factor it’s not so much that everyone’s flowed over to enduro racing I think- but it made people look again at other traditional forms of racing and I think in a lot of cases go “but that sounds bollocks”.

When I first did a race, it was 10 Under The Ben, because back then that was just what you did as a mtb enthusiast who wanted to try something new- you got a couple of mates together and you did an endurance race in a half-assed way. That doesn’t seem to be the case any more, it’s lost a lot of its appeal but also its obviousness.

Forest of Dean XC enduro MTB, same dates as Erlestoke, cancelled

What on earth is an xc enduro, surely its either xc, or enduro?
The only race I wanted to enter was the aston hill DH race#2, but that was cancelled also.

I’d imagine a xc/enduro has xc type stages rather than the more normal gravity based ones.

Don’t know this event but every other time I’ve seen “xc enduro” it just means an endurance race of some sort rather than a stage race. Basically a throwback to before the UK had really heard of enduro, when we still misused the word for other events.

<lights blue touchpaper>

From my event organising days we were close to pulling out a couple of times due to lack of pre entries. Many bills have to be paid upfront unfortunately, so people waiting until the day before when they can check the weather doesn’t help.

Its not just that. Road races are generally at circuits, which have all in one facilities. TT’s often at circuits or village halls, again with facilities.

MTB involves the middle of a field / forest, custting back trails often need landowner and FC permission so a lot of effort, catering facilities, portaloos, timing and marshalls. Hadleigh of course I expect does not come cheap, same for Ashton Court (Octoberfest cancelled after this year).

Its a high effort investment sport. I’ve researched some of this as I’m thinking of creating an event next year, in the SE/London yet on a ready/half made facility to reduce costs (watch this space) and the backing of club-based Marshalls and some local help.

Its is not easy, and even that will probably mean several days off work near the event for course prep/preriding.

“What on earth is an xc enduro, surely its either xc, or enduro?”

An enduro as they used to be before the downhillers got involved.

I fail to see why the word is used actually. Obviously it’s nicked from the motorcycle scene but there is little to endure in most of them. A 24 maybe even a 12 but 40 miles? Really? The same has happened with m/c enduros though. Many are no more than Hare and Hounds events of maybe 3 hours. Grumpy old man rant over. 😆
As to why. Fashion. Sadly the entry on the day thing doesn’t help. People look out of the door, see rain and go to B&Q instead. That means the organiser can’t plan or rely on income and pulls the plug. Been there running m/c trials. Half a dozen riders yet the work for the organisers is the same for 10 times that number.
All the mags push big air and not fitness. Not exclusive but racing for a day is rather harder on the lungs that a uplift day. Nowt wrong with that and the uplift is easier to do if you spend every other weekend in the shopping centre.

blue paper alight and bait taken.
“when we still misused the word for other events.”
That’s suggesting that the downhill based endure is the real thing.
Can’t be. First is right especially in nomenclature.
A 12 hour event is much closer to the origins of the name, ie an all day motorcycle event covering maybe 150 miles , most off road.

mattsccm – Member

Can’t be. First is right especially in nomenclature.

That’s quite a dubious proposition but accepting it for the moment, “enduro” has meant stage racing with timed downhills since the early 2000s. It’s not a new thing at all.

ac282

Kings Lynn MTB club have taken on the thetford winter series. First one is in October.

They’ve put on a few good events already so I’m looking forward to see what they do with the series.

Thanks. I’ll have a look.

Too many events concentrated in one area, and not enough in others. Would love to do a 12hr at Hadleigh, but not doing a 9hr drive each way to get there.

Where are the 12/24hr events in Yorkshire or Cumbria? Much bigger catchment area.

Also agree with point made above that some folk that would usually have made a half arsed attempt at a 12hr team are now making half arsed attempts at enduro instead.

Yorkshire needs more Ard Rock enduros considering it sells so quickly.

PMBA has been great and well attended all year

A few other examples this year too – e.g. Epic Cymru being pulled relatively early. I understand the pressure on organisers with big bills being presented early etc. but equally it takes time to get events off the ground and into people’s consciousness.

As far as the events that the OP lists go, I’d not heard of any of them via any MTB websites or social media. And I am in Hampshire so close to 2 of them, and have entered SPAM organised events out of Erlestoke before, so a good bet for a speculative promo email.

Whereas for popular events like those run by Gorrick, I always know when and where they are happening …

spent 5 hours rtoday mtb ing the clwydians, saw 3 mtbers, all the ones you used to see are now probably roadies,or sitting on bike forums typing.

project – Member

spent 5 hours rtoday mtb ing the clwydians, saw 3 mtbers, all the ones you used to see are now probably roadies,or sitting on bike forums typing.

Or perhaps its a big wide world and we’re really small on it and can easily miss masses of other MTBers out and about.

I can go out for 5hrs and see hardly any other MTBer or none at all, but weekend just gone there was a local MTB Challenge where nearly 250 attended, the vast majority being locals.

Well thanks to this thread I now know the Thetford series is back. Enjoyed it last time I raced, might make a very slow and steady comeback (I’m about a stone and a half heavier than last time!).

Kings Lynn have just run a great 6hr race at Shouldham, entry numbers were ok but a few more would have been better.
Details of the winter series are all here http://klmtbracing.com/