No UK Gravity Enduro Series in 2016

The statement from series organiser Steve Parr in full here..

After five years of the UKGE I have to announce there will be no sixth year in 2016. The series started off slowly and built up to something massive. It took over my life, morning, noon and night. At the start of 2015, I became homeless with our first born expected in April, this was what can only be described as troubling times for Liz and myself. This is in no way an excuse for my handling of the PR associated with UKGE, it is the hard facts, I am putting my hands up to making a complete mess of the situation. Maybe in the near future people will look back and think it was visionary, only time will tell.

All through my years of organising events, it has always been my goal to put rider’s wishes first, if they ever said I had done a bad job, I would have stopped. At heart, I am a racer, always have been and always will be. It is what we live for – great racing! The UKGE team has brought you amazing races across the country and put enduro in the UK at the forefront of every Mountain Biker”s thoughts. So, thank you to all who have made the five years amazing, and so much fun as well.

I am going to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all the sponsors that have supported the series: the Forestry Commission, for letting us host the races, and to the happy faces we see at so many races. Charlie Williams, for his outstanding contribution to the series – he has bought all his years of racing in Europe into developing the stages. Last but not least, anyone who has helped prepare stages over the past five years, especially the “Trail pixies;” Dominic Pearce, Ed Wright and Richard Marsden. Next year sees me hitting the big Five 0, so it is time for me to go racing and spend some quality time with Liz and our beautiful baby girl, Imogen. The UKGE team will be doing possibly two events in 2016, one of these will be a week long bike festival, the other remains a close guarded secret! Get yourself along to round five at Dyfi and say goodbye to the original and still the best series for Gravity Enduro in the UK. – Steve Parr –

The UK Gravity Enduro race series first started in 2001. Recently rule changes mandating full face helmets and compulsory riders personal accident insurance caused debate around the ease of participation in the event.

Read more on the UKGE website here

Mark Alker

Singletrack Owner/Publisher

What Mark doesn’t know about social media isn’t worth knowing and his ability to balance “The Stack” is bested only by his agility on a snowboard. Graphs are what gets his engine revving, at least they would if his car wasn’t electric, and data is what you’ll find him poring over in the office. Mark enjoys good whisky, sci-fi and the latest Apple gadget, he is also the best boss in the world (Yes, he is paying me to write this).