The 2021 PMBA Enduro Series has single rounds in Scotland, Wales and England, with the usual doubling up of BNES rounds and EWS qualifiers.
Entries open this coming Saturday 13th March for the opening round of the 2021 PMBA Enduro Series at Graythwaite that takes place over the weekend of 28th/29th June.
Read the full PMBA press release below.
Usually in March we would be just weeks away from enduros starting the summer season but these are not normal times and as such we are tentatively launching our 2021 events. Many many thanks to the racers over the past year for their understanding of the troubles the pandemic has brought to event planning.
BC’s “Return to racing” document is due after 22nd March, with a government approved outline for what we can and can’t have at events. So more information on what events will look like will have to wait. However we feel these 3 events should at least happen, including 2 BNES events which are both EWS Qualifiers too.
2021 PMBA Enduro Series:
- Graythwaite: 28/29th May 2021. Entries open Sat 13th March, 9am
- Llangollen : 14/15th August 2021. Entries open Sat 1st May, 9am
- Kirroughtree : 5th September 2021. Entries open 5th June.
With English forests still too busy for events there are many missing venues including the usual season opener at Gisburn, so we are straight into the 2-day events and starting with “The Epic” at Graythwaite. While not the ideal season opener, straight into racing hard, with steep and technical stages, this private venue and walled estate provides the ideal venue for these COVID times.
The event having full control of the private land, as is preferred for ease of complying with social distancing. This was the only event we managed to run in 2020 and those lucky 500 racers stepped up to the challenge of going straight into one of the hardest enduros the UK serves up.
Saturday and Sunday of the late May Bank Holiday we’ll hopefully be allowed a little socialising after the event on the Sunday night, and a open air bar flowing the awesome Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery Ales in the marquee. However the rules will probably be more like last September’s event, with no bar, no podiums, not even a result screen or spectator-friendly event finish into the centre of the arena. It looks like anything that would cause “grouping” will be out again.
National events like these, require “Step 3” on the Government roadmap which is due 17th May, just 12 days before the event scheduled for 29/30th May. However with the event so close to the “Step 3” date required we are taking no chances and have sorted an alternate date to cope with a delay to this unlocking. 19/20th June is the backup date, allowing for a month delay to Step 3.
It’s an unusual year when you have to announce 2 possible dates for an event but we hope racers will back this stance and understand if we don’t have timing, medics, marshals, toilets and catering booked for June. Now we may not be able to arrange a new date if there is a last minute change, so we have booked both dates to be sure and allow for racers to plan for both eventualities.
Next in line is Llangollen, one of the premium downhill venues in the country we turned this into an enduro venue in 2019. Back for 2021 with what could be our biggest and best event ever. In a contrast to Graythwaite’s slow tech we offer a range of high speed tracks all contained on a single Welsh hillside.
Again, like Graythwaite, the event is also a British National Enduro Series (BNES) round and a EWS qualifier; depending on how the end of year is looking it could well be the final of the BNES series too, and we could well be crowning the series champions. There is no Welsh advice out yet for events, so exactly what we can do and confirmation we can run this event is still to be confirmed.
Our third and final offering for the 2021 season is Kirroughtree. With some uncertainty still for Scotland’s unlocking we will leave opening entries until things are clearer, with entries opening in June at the earliest. There is scope to run a couple of events this weekend. Maybe a grassroots trail centre enduro on the Saturday, and an off-piste enduro on the Sunday to try and balance the year with more inclusive events after the 2 monster national-level rounds. The main takeaway here is “watch this space.”
We will of course be ready to jump on any other events we feel we can run later in the year as the situation evolves.
