No more British Enduro Series?

Oh dear!

British Enduro Series – BES Cancelled for 2017.
It is with great regret to inform you that the 2017 BES is to be cancelled due to a number of factors.
The series was a great success in many ways, riders benefited from; Live Timing, £7k cash in prize money, Free Race Support from Shimano, SRAM, Hope Technology, Crankbrothers, onsite retailer Tred-Shop and GT85 with their Bike Wash, Air Hoses and Lube Station and a large media presence.The downfall was the number of riders entering, as low as 120 at Afan round 3. We appreciate the series was diluted with UK Enduro taking a slice of the riders and when that folded we offered all of their riders a free entry to the BES but even that never really worked.
We were all geared up for a successful 2017 season but with the recent loss of a few key sponsors that we have been unable to replace (Brexit is hitting the marketing budgets hard) and very low rider entry numbers to date. Then note the series unfortunately lost a lot of money last year and the time constraints involved in the running of the series. The stress and pressure that has delivered as you can imagine has sent my personal family life beyond breaking point, which I need to repair being the father of two young children.
It was a real pleasure to meet all of the riders last year at the events and I am deeply saddened that I have failed to deliver to you. I would like to highlight the work done by the British Enduro Series team and marshals that delivered last season. Their commitment, hard work and unwavering attention to detail, allowed us to safely and successfully deliver the events.
All riders currently entered will be refunded in full including the online booking fees. Active Network the online payment company will refund everyone directly for both the race fee and booking fee in two separate transactions. Anyone who took out Booking Protect will also be refunded in full. Please note this will take several days to be completed.
Yours in Sport.
Si Paton.

Just saw this. Was going to book Dyfi this week. Gutted. That’s a big loss for enduro in the UK.

The health of the organisers come first though.

I did wonder why entries were so much lower when compared to Ard Rock etc which sell out in minutes?

Not a task I would like to undergo. A lot of work.

I am surprised at low entry numbers though as when ever I look up events they seem to be fully booked. Maybe this is because I am down south and fighting over places in the events down here.

Is this the one that some were saying marketed itself as ‘Premium/Elite’ and was not really supportive of newer riders?

Thats a shame, Ard rock sells out fast as its a great event with lots to offer over a weekend.

I’ve always thought the cost of entry for a BES race was too high £75?

Another bonus of Brexit, not

Big shame but several issues

price was relatively high but not terrible for a 2 day event and the courses were generally tougher than most others series, lots of factors but there is some really good competition out there and doing the whole series was very expensive when you included fuel etc
Thats the point of a national series though, I suppose

So when is Parr coming back?

That’s such a shame! It seems strange to me that the ‘national’ series seem to struggle so much when more local series such as the PMBA seem to do so well. I guess the need to travel so far over a year and as above the lack of support for newer/less serious riders leads to their downfall.

In my opinion, the best solution would be for two or more of the smaller series to team up to offer a national series. We could just have a national body (BEMBA?) which cherry picks existing races to make up a national series. Similar to what the EWS are doing with their events.

There’s a thriving Scottish Series. It averaged 282 riders per round last year.

The BES only pulled in 175 entrants per round last year. Not great for a flagship UK wide series. Too expensive? Too complicated? Who knows.

That’s a bloody shame for all concerned 🙁 All credit to them for refunding in full, some organisers retain booking fees etc.

I suppose the competing series ended up having no winners but I’m still surprised numbers were so low- the SES drew 250+ riders to every event last year I think, despite some pain-in-the-arse locations- if you can get 250 people to Glenlivet then you ought to be able to get 250 people anywhere.

not surprised on the low numbers for the afan event – I expect not many people are happy paying 75 quid to ride trail centre trails (apart from the hillbilly stage) – that they can ride for free all year.

I think the events like ard rock /moors are more appealing to the average rider as its a chance to ride places that you cant ride normally (on private ground) people are more willing to pay and travel to these ones.

That’s a shame, I’ve no personal interest in racing, but I like to know it’s there.

Perhaps it’s me – but reading between the lines the major factors seem to be that it couldn’t attract enough people willing to race, nor enough corporate sponsorship to make it pay. BES failing should have been the making of them. Why did BES fail?

On the flip-side I noticed that the BDS has attracted HSBC as title sponsor for 8 years – that must have been a hell of a coup for them, it’s fairly rare these days for a non-bike company to sponsor a Mountain Bike, well anything, such a big company like HSBC signing on for such a long time.

not surprised on the low numbers for the afan event – I expect not many people are happy paying 75 quid to ride trail centre trails (apart from the hillbilly stage) – that they can ride for free all year. [/I]

But that still doesn’t equate to the Scottish experience as we can ride anywhere, anytime (nothing private up here).

if you can get 250 people to Glenlivet then you ought to be able to get 250 people anywhere.

Indeed.
Glenlivet is a pain to get to even from somewhere relatively close like Fife.

Bit sad that sponsors have pulled out at this stage – assuming this is indeed the problem i’d like to see some naming and shaming so I/We know which brands to avoid. Not that i’m saying brands should be obliged to sponsor events, but once you’ve put your hand up, it should stay up.

Competition is the problem, back when ukge was pulling in 300, 350 entrants a round there wasnt much else on

now there are series up and down the UK catering to all levels

madenduro
enduro1
pedalhounds
ses
southern
pmba
aard
wges
wes
mini

+ others im sure

to be really good a national series needs support and input from a national federation BC or BEMBA
and/or a dedicated team prepping the best venues
trail centres can offer a great base but really the content needs to be fresh
the Dyfi rounds offered some of the best riding Ive done this side of the channel, but the old ukge team put a lot of man hours in to build/prep some of the stages

On the flip-side I noticed that the BDS has attracted HSBC as title sponsor for 8 years – that must have been a hell of a coup for them, it’s fairly rare these days for a non-bike company to sponsor a Mountain Bike, well anything, such a big company like HSBC signing on for such a long time.

Si runs BES and BDS and I believe that the HSBC deal was negotiated via British Cycling, who dont do enduro

Bit sad that sponsors have pulled out at this stage – assuming this is indeed the problem i’d like to see some naming and shaming so I/We know which brands to avoid. Not that i’m saying brands should be obliged to sponsor events, but once you’ve put your hand up, it should stay up.

You are presuming that BES had done what they had promised to the sponsors, entirely possible that the lack of entries meant terms and conditions were not being met (I obviously dont know if that’s true but its as possible as sponsors just pulling out against contracts).

A lot off crap gets spoken by anybody with a 140mm+ machine…..

“Yeah I’ll be at such-and-such round”

…..come the day they’re nowhere to be seen.

I’ll get flack for this but here goes, with all and sundry owning an Enduro gnarpoon these days they’ve just become another bike….ride it, race it, don’t, who cares?

A few years ago when people spent thousands on trail bikes AND a downhill bike they perhaps felt the need to justify said purchase and raced the DH bike, albeit at a local level. That impetus to get out there and race/justify your 3k Giant Glory has gone.
It also doesn’t help the numerous comments on here when an Enduro event is coming up and people say “I’m not paying to ride trails I can ride for free the following weekend”…..it saps the enthusiasm from the sport.

Anyway, I liked the idea from one poster about having a northern organizer, a Midlands/wales organisation and a southern organiser….if people want to do the full series they can and be in the running for overall honors or ifc people just want to race on their doorstep they can and we could have regional champions. Something for Parr, Patton etc to think about.

deviant – Member

I’ll get flack for this but here goes, with all and sundry owning an Enduro gnarpoon these days they’ve just become another bike….ride it, race it, don’t, who cares?

Don’t think you’ll get flak but this is half the point of enduro. Pretty sure any benefit from a small number of people with DH bikes feeling the need to earn it, is less than the benefit from accessibility. (yes I know you can race DH on anything)

Definitely agree on “you can ride that any weekend” though- that just misses the point of racing really. You can ride most road courses any weekend for free but that’s not the same either. If you’re not into racing then fine but it’s not helpful to have that be a standard response.

It also doesn’t help the numerous comments on here when an Enduro event is coming up and people say “I’m not paying to ride trails I can ride for free the following weekend”…..it saps the enthusiasm from the sport.

For most people its just riding a bike, not a sport, so competing is not really of interest. Ive tried racing in the past, whole weekend under pressure to do this bit then that one then rush to the next section. All I want to do is ride my bike man! 😆

A few years ago when people spent thousands on trail bikes AND a downhill bike they perhaps felt the need to justify said purchase and raced the DH bike, albeit at a local level. That impetus to get out there and race/justify your 3k Giant Glory has gone.

I think that died when uplifts became consistent and reliable. Before easy uplifts if you wanted to get more than 3 or 4 runs that you got pushing you needed to enter a race and get on the cattle truck.

HSBC are the new BC sponsors taking over from Sky hence the BDS deal.

As someone who has been involved with organising or marshalling at most cycling related events, the thought of trying to pull together a multistage Enduro sounds like a nightmare.

“It also doesn’t help the numerous comments on here when an Enduro event is coming up and people say “I’m not paying to ride trails I can ride for free the following weekend”…..it saps the enthusiasm from the sport”

of course you can go and ride any trails you like if the following weekend if you really wanted to….

The point I am making is specifically about the afan event the stages have remained exactly the same for the past few years and to keep things fresh I think one or 2 stages needed to change at some point. Whether that’s logistically possible is not for me to say. As a local I know theres other amazing trails close by but whether an public event could be staged those – (probably not!)

Also I know the dyfi area pretty well and could go and ride those stages for free at anytime – but as kimbers said

“the old ukge team put a lot of man hours in to build/prep some of the stages”

which made me much more inclined to drop £75 on it than the afan event

I was pretty determined to enter a complete series this year but….

The BES was just too spread out, the overall cost of competing made it prohibitive.

On a similar note, some of the other series have rounds that simply don’t inspire and as such make the journey/cost prohibitive.

My ‘local’ series would be the Southern Enduro Series but I like events to take me to terrain and riding that is different and pushes my boundaries, great events with a good vibe though… so a maybe for a couple of rounds.

I guess you could say I am looking for the moon on a stick but both my time and money are limited and important to me, I have to be picky.

That said I will doff my Enduro lid to anyone and everyone that puts on events, in all disciplines, a tough job but you and your events are very much appreciated.

not surprised on the low numbers for the afan event – I expect not many people are happy paying 75 quid to ride trail centre trails (apart from the hillbilly stage) – that they can ride for free all year.

I was going to enter the tour de France next year till I realised that I could just ride around France. Muppets like that will never be at a race, you can ride any dh course any day of the week if you want.

strawdog – Member

“the old ukge team put a lot of man hours in to build/prep some of the stages”

TBH local experience was that they talked a good talk and posted pics of them throwing a shovel of hardcore in some mud but they didn’t really do anything. Any actual building was done by the same locals as usual.

mikewsmith – Member
Muppets like that will never be at a race

Clearly not, that’s why they got hardly any entries and have folded as a result. 😆

TBH local experience was that they talked a good talk and posted pics of them throwing a shovel of hardcore in some mud but they didn’t really do anything. Any actual building was done by the same locals as usual.

May have been the case at the inners round but I know that’s not what happened at grizedale or dyfi out even afan

The BES was just too spread out, the overall cost of competing made it prohibitive.

…….

My ‘local’ series would be the Southern Enduro Series but I like events to take me to terrain and riding that is different

I was going to enter the tour de France next year till I realised that I could just ride around France. Muppets like that will never be at a race, you can ride any dh course any day of the week if you want.

It’s true to an extent though.

Motorsport – you can do track days, but otherwise it’s restricted to racing if you want to go fast on a track.

Dinghy Sailing – (not including cruising). Participation is far far higher at a local/club racing level and above, and it’s probably lower at the ‘bimbling’ level, because almost everyone at a club races. But that’s because to participate you need to join a club with access to water, and clubs race.

Mountain biking – I can turn up, and for absolutely no cost ride a lap of a trail, and get a result on STRAVA. It’s 90% of the Enduro racing experience, for zero cost. I can turn up to the local ‘fast’ XC club and get 50% of the XC racing experience, etc etc (which is probably why XC racing isn’t doing so badly).

Enduro racing has the best and worst starting point of those three examples, it’s “just racing your mates on normal technical trails, on normal bikes”, so a huge number of potential entrants, but what’s making them pay £75 for 2 days which they could get for £5 in a pay and display machine.

It’s the race bit your missing even with Strava, if you don’t get it you probably won’t.
I’d probably go with saturation of a newish market, travel for a national series at the moment along with loss of sponsorship as the key issues. Always looks like plenty are racing but not all in the same place at the same time.
BDS gives you something more if your pushing on. Ews qualifications events are wide spread now so what’s going to make you commit to a national series? It’s a sport still finding its feet.

Disappointed by the news also. Had signed up to Rnd 1 and had full intention of doing the full series, just couldn’t afford to drop cash on it all up front, so was going to sign up to a race each pay day.

Was going to be a hell of a lot of travelling for me from the southwest but was up for it. Southern Enduro Series is the closest now but it’s still a lot of travelling for only a one-day race. From my perspective, a south Wales/Southwest series is needed…maybe Charlie Williams and the Cornish Trail Pixies can team up next year!

clockarockin – Member

In my opinion, the best solution would be for two or more of the smaller series to team up to offer a national series. We could just have a national body (BEMBA?) which cherry picks existing races to make up a national series. Similar to what the EWS are doing with their events.

I think this is the only way we’ll get a ‘National Series’ now. UKES and BES both failed and I don’t see how Steve Parr can resurrect UKGE and make it any more successful. As Kimbers says, it’s a saturated market now.

I was going to enter the tour de France next year till I realised that I could just ride around France. Muppets like that will never be at a race, you can ride any dh course any day of the week if you want

sorry mate but when you mentioned tdf I switched off..

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Mountain biking – I can turn up, and for absolutely no cost ride a lap of a trail, and get a result on STRAVA. It’s 90% of the Enduro racing experience, for zero cost.

IMO that’s about 2% of the racing experience.

Scotroutes… I take your point, hence why I have a Tweedlove event, a PMBA event, a WES event or two and a couple of Southern events lined up plus I had the BES Dyfi round lined up.

I enjoy the events a great deal, I actually don’t really enjoy racing a great deal and for me supporting events and organisers is important.

Mountain biking and biking in general is my passion, when I travel to pursue it I make a point of using a spread of local businesses too, I try to give back as well as take from the sport.

Just because someone doesn’t race doesn’t make them a muppet… that said I am not a huge fan of dissing something just because it is not for you. It is up to each individual to work out whether entering an event offers them enough to justify the decision, actually racing/riding is only part of what an event has to offer.

TBH local experience was that they talked a good talk and posted pics of them throwing a shovel of hardcore in some mud but they didn’t really do anything. Any actual building was done by the same locals as usual.
May have been the case at the inners round but I know that’s not what happened at grizedale or dyfi out even afan

They did a fair bit of work on the Caberston side at the inners round.
I didn’t race any last year due to the FF helmet rules and weird race format. Best track taping at any Enduro I’ve seen though.

It’s a sport still finding its feet.

It’s not a sport but a discipline. As it moves every more professional and hence, closer to DH I think Enduro will struggle, with the exception of a few well established events.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

I can turn up, and for absolutely no cost ride a lap of a trail, and get a result on STRAVA. It’s 90% of the Enduro racing experience, for zero cost.

Honest question – have you ever competed in an Enduro event?

I’d argue the difference is massive – sit on the start line waiting for the beeps of the timing device, Marshall next to you giving you a countdown, riders all waiting behind you as you blast off, a course with taping and signs, the effort and adrenaline of giving the best you’ve got and having it all laid bare with accurate results broken down by class, age group etc. as soon as you’ve got to the bottom – your performance measured on that run, on that day, over that exact same stage in exactly the same conditions as everyone else.

Riding with mates isn’t even close to 90% of the experience – and that’s before you factor in the atmosphere and anticipation that starts from sign on and all the crack and banter you get over the course of the event from other competitors who aren’t your mates.

It’s a very individual thing as to whether that’s all worth £75, but to be clear that’s what you’re paying for – the trails you’ll race over are not part of the cost – it’s all the organisation, timing, course marking, medical support etc. that go into organising and running a competitive race event.

IMO that’s about 2% of the racing experience.

Compared to a bunch race like XC maybe, but Enduro.

Strava) Turn up, ride against a clock.
Enduro) Pay £75, turn up, ride against the clock.

Yes there’s differences (weather, time of year, accuracy, yadda yadda). But fundamentally it’s the same principal, a time trial.

It’s the race bit your missing even with Strava, if you don’t get it you probably won’t.

I race (sailing), most weekends, and quite happily pay £20-70 a weekend to race open meetings, national champs, etc in addition to club level racing.

I get the difference between a race and just going out for a blast, it’s a whole different game with added internal and external pressure. But IMO (and judging by the thread topic other too) Enduro is far closer to normal and more accessible riding than any other form of racing.

Enduro racing is undoubtedly good fun, 1000’s of people do it informally just riding with mates or with Strava every weekend, but the number of people prepared to pay for doing it is obviously very small.

my point was – as a rider who HAS raced afan and some of the other series before One of the KEY factors that keep me interested (happy to pay for) and coming back to the same location to race. Is riding on different stages or fresh trails.

I know some locals I talk to feel the same way and maybe that’s one of contributing factors in the dropoff in numbers specifically @ afan event where the stages haven’t changed a lot in any of the series that have been run over it.

closer to DH I think Enduro will struggle

That’s a good point IMHO. DH events from grass roots to the top seem to be thriving.

If the timed enduro stages are open for practice for a day or two before the race, is it a different enough sport to stand alone? I remember the Enduro1 events where there was no practice, had to ride the stages as you saw them, def a different type of skill to a DH.

If enduro is, in reality, 5 DH races at once, but the entry fees/numbers aren’t 5x as high, then somethings got to give.

As prob stated above (not fully read the posts),
Hard one to call, but I do feel it might of been a bit to early to Cancel and a real lack of communication on their part, I feel a if they sent a “don’t have XX amount of entries by xx date” (early Feb) it might of been OK. we just had christmas/new year etc people are bit on the skint side and waiting for payday at the end of the mth.

But then it’s not me, with a lot on the line to lose if numbers didn’t go up!
So I say thanks Si, and best of luck in the future.