British Enduro Series Cancelled for 2017
In a statement released earlier today on the British Enduro Series Facebook page, Si Paton announced that due to a number of circumstances the series would be cancelled for the upcoming season:
 | 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 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 |
More news to follow.
MENTIONS: @si-paton
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Member since Jul 22, 2013
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I'm gutted as i had booked a few, but for the reasons listed, and that he planned the cancellation and will be issuing full refunds - how can we complain.
Other companies (no names) would have simply folded and disappeared with the money.......!
Its a huge shame, but fully respect the reasons.
Si has ran the BDS (DH) series for years and as its a full time occupation himself and team must make a living, how else is the mortgage paid?
I am sure we will see smaller enduro races in the UK that are almost as you describe but even that wont happen if entry numbers are so low, think of the costs like medics, insurance, course construction and taping, marshalling, toilets, security (yes really)
It is a real shame to hear, Si doesnt need to be so honest though, a race isnt a charity and his family life is personal, all we need to know is that nobody is entering and the sponsors have gone.
Lets hope 2018 brings something together, pretty poor show for Enduro racing though which was supposedly so popular.
"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)..."
Every event we need anywhere between 20 to 30 volunteers.
Every month we need a minimum of 5 people on the committee to run everything and no-one receives a penny for it - the people involved are all working full time so its insane that the series even runs. I have been on ours for 4+ years and keep trying to leave but noone is willing to step up. This rest of the committee have been here much longer than me and are in the same boat.
To give people an idea of the cash involved:
DH events we break even... barely. (We dont pay any volunteers or receive any profits - it all goes back to the club).
Enduro events are our cash cow. We can make anywhere between 10 to 30k on these events.
However what people need to recognise is that those profits entirely rely on volunteers - not one penny gets given to any person for work done. If we had to pay the 20 - 30 volunteers they could each get $1,000 for the weekend which for the hours involved and stress is simply not worth it. And this would leave nothing for the people putting it all on the line.
I have to wonder if a club style mechanic would be better suited for a UK enduro series - sure its hard finding volunteers but you are not putting the sole pressure in one or two individuals like Si who risk losing their house if it all goes to pot.
If anyone has any questions about racing clubs and how they are run let me know and i will try ask them as best i can, otherwise please think of the post when you are complaining about the lack of races being run.
Well done to Si for everything he has done - I cant imagine the stress of trying to run a series for profits : (
Lease out the National Enduro series to all the separate countries DH race series organisers (NI, SCO, ENG, WAL)
That way each DH series gets to hold one enduro event a year, and its nothing but pure cashflow into each race series.
Buy one timing equipment and share it. No uplift costs. Money back into the clubs and trails...
the www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=grassroots%20enduro%20series grassroots enduro series in Southern Ireland is operatig on that basis, will be one shared timing system/website etc but the events will be ran by clubs
Just need that all important person/team willing to step into the roll...
There's 2 successful welsh Series, a few in England that i'm aware off and a Scottish. Unsure of Ni...
But if every promoter was willing to host a "British" round keeping the prices inline with what is working for them now that's it sorted right??
Easy haha
The same format that the EWS use could be implemented where they seem to effectively cherry pick existing events to make up an international series. As mentioned there are enough great events in the UK to make up a solid national series.
My suggested approach:
- BEMBA call for volunteers to make up national organising team
- BEMBA national organising team call for suggestions from prospective racers - I think racers should get a say in their own national series and so sending out a questionnaire type form to collate ideas would go down well and ensure a good format first time round (e.g. adding a national series category to all events similar to how some events have 'pro' and 'fun' categories)
- BEMBA national organising team pick national events from those series who want to be involved
- National series website setup and updated each round
First thing id do if it was me would be to contact Si and Steve Parr. They've both run the series for the past few years. They've both bowed out mind so whether they'd be willing to pass on any info is their own business, Neither need to or are obliged too..
Second, do some research on all the regional series and contact all that you think would work.
If anyone actually says yes your going to need a meeting with all parties, they will obvs know how to run an event get permission to use land, pay for land, have their own timing contracts, safety and so on, i'm sure there's lots more that goes on than anyone who hasn't run one thinks about.
You'll need to decide whether to set up new stand alone events or use a round of the already set up series's that goes towards an overall series. What kind of trails these are going to be run on...
Then there's the whole British cycling federation...
And you'd need to create a company i'd imagine to handle money and sponsorship issues so everything's legal...
I imagine the list is endless... haha
Disappointing for the British series being cancelled but always important to remember there are humans behind these events, people are quick to complain and not support.
Committing early doors to races takes commitment as although one race at £70+ is pricey, it sounds like what is needed is multiple commitments to make sure the series is financially viable (understandably!). That either means you need to be committed or sponsored to do that and, given that entries opened so close to Christmas, I doubt there were many that could do that.
Ard Rock being the exception, the only other series I have seen sell out is the Mini DH which is a grass roots type event. I fully respect anyone trying to put on a national level enduro event but can't help but think that the inevitable paraphernalia that was needed to MAKE IT a national event meant it needed too much time, effort, commitment and cost to make it work.
Ultimately I think that the desire for racing on terrain other than established trails and trail centres means that the work, permission and cost associated with digging up (literally) new courses has taken its toll. Its a viscous cycle as Strava means you can race for free at a trail centre, so why pay money to actually race, whereas people want to race on harder, faster, newer trails but don't want to fork out the (relatively small) expense for doing so.
I don't think UK enduro is dead, just (still) finding its identity.
Its all about free riding now
Surely downhill race weekends could have a mini enduro event?.. everything's set up,insurance,timing,toilets etc.
Just do a two day afternoon round where you practice on the Saturday then race Sunday.
Spectators get to watch dh in the day and enduro in the eve.... Dhuro series ????
Oh and win the lotto.
My thoughts are what's really needed is small local races not necessarily "Enduro" or DH a halfway house sort of thing that don't try to be big events, the mountain bike equivalent of the weekly roadies time trials. What would be wrong with say Aston hill or Swinley doing a summer two weekly small scale race, tape off one trail for an hour (30 entries, 2 minute intervals) no proper timing equipment except a radio and a stop watch. Man at each end of the course, riders go from on the hour every two mins. An hour and job done, events like that are easy as you just take turns being timer or marshal. Club members pay £3 and get preference to race non members £5 if there are spare places. That's how roadies manage to have weekly club time trials. A lot more people would get into proper big scale racing if there were more fun races about like that so see how they fair. Lots of people are just to intimidated by the 'race scene' to actually enter races.
I guess one issue is insurance, that would bump up the cost straight away? Totally agree that it would help get more people to give it a go.
race fee was £75 for the 2 day event plus travel plus accomodation so yes if thats the case I'm too tight to spend that amount of money.
costs come first according to that release, they couldn't get the number of people to cover the cost/make profit, the family comment came second.
Si, spend time and work on your personal and family life and with enough social pressure, the bike manufacturers, etc. may get involved and even help lower the cost of entry for the riders. Reach out to them and their marketing teams and let them know what you're doing. Hopefully, they will listen and become part of this series. I take it that some of those companies that are no longer sponsoring may have been these companies but seriously,. they need to invest in these events.
As mentioned above the checklist of things required to run an event is immense and all these things cost significant amount of money.
The people running the events are not rolling in cash and laughing at the punters, they are working their bollox off day in day out to plan, organise and run the event weeks, months and sometimes a year ahead. On the actual event weekend the level of work undertaken goes through the roof - EU working time directive managers would have heart failure if they saw the hours these people put in over a weekend.
So do not bitch about the cost of UK events compared to Europe when you do not understand what it costs and the effort it takes to organise and run one of these events.
I bitch as I am involved in grass roots racing charging £15 per race......with chip timing, marshalling, race control and prizes.
I'm not against business making a profit, just pointing out why people don't sign up at that price.
From Enduro mag.
"After talks with Simon’s timing guy and man behind Mini Enduro, 4X Pro Tour and Mini Downhill, Chris Roberts, we have some good news when it comes to the running of what was to be the Dyfi BES round. Chris and Charlie Williams (the man behind Welsh Gravity Enduro) are still going to run the Dyfi round on the same date as the planned BES; this will be the Welsh EWS feeder round on May 20/21."
Good luck with the BDS Si