Let’s just get this over with…..Fair City Enduro is CANCELLED
We’ve just spent the past few months weighing up the pros and cons of hosting the event in the current climate and trying to figure out whether it was possible/legal/viable/responsible, but in the end there was only one choice for us.
We know we could have implemented effective safety measures such as one way systems when queuing for toilets, registration and timed stages, put anti-bac gel dispensers everywhere, made starting waves smaller, deleted the trade village, banned spectators, had less stages and hosted an online podium ceremony to minimise crowding. But would it be the same FCE we have grown to know and love over the past seven years?
We didn’t think so.
There were many more moral dilemmas and implications to consider too…..
Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park is a place where lots of people escape to, not just Mountain bikers, and over the past few months it’s been a lifeline for many locals escaping their four walls and trying to make sense of the bizarre and often scary situation we find ourselves in. To expect the local community to welcome hundreds of heavy breathing strangers from across the UK with open arms just doesn’t seem fair, no matter how much we love seeing our local trails buzzing in the weeks surrounding the Enduro.
Restrictions on mass gatherings may ease over the coming weeks but the possibility of a localised lock-down (i.e. Aberdeen) is always looming which means we’d have to prepare to cancel at the final hour. Months of graft followed by bitter disappointment and significant financial loss doesn’t sound too appealing, especially after cancelling Clans @ The Croft and a Summer of Pumptrack hires already this year.
There are other reasons we decided it would best to give it a miss but I won’t bore you with each and every detail. Rest assured though, we gave it our best shot and it just wasn’t meant to be this time.
If you’ve already entered FCE we will issue a full refund on your entry (minus £5 admin fee) over the coming days, but you have to promise to put it in your piggy bank and use it to enter our next event – which will hopefully be in May 2021.
Looking even further into the future (remember there is a future and it will be awesome), we have some unbelievably exciting plans for 2021 and even as far ahead as 2022. Seriously, just wait ’til you hear what’s cooking in the Muckin’ Kitchen, you will not want to miss any of it! Unfortunately I can’t share any details at this stage but good times are coming and I hope you’ll be a part of them.
Before I go, I just want to thank our amazing Sponsors and Muckmarshals for all their support. Obviously 2020 hasn’t exactly go to plan so far, but better days are just around the corner and I hope you’ll be there to enjoy them with us.
Until then, stay safe and keep it rubber side down.
Aaron and Team Muck