Round 1 and 2 of the above Championship has resulted in many problems and comments. The ACU Trials and Enduro Committee will examine the situation and await various reports. IMPORTANT: The Round scheduled for 28/29th May due to be hosted by the same organiser is now cancelled. No alternative round will be allocated for that date.
There are many lessons to be learnt from last weekend and these will be taken on board
However, there are some points that need to be made, particularly in view of the many comments received and posted on social media.
It has to be accepted by the Enduro family that formulating a BEC calendar is difficult in the extreme
There are no long lists of applicants to organise rounds.
It is disappointing that many comments made refer to how it should be done, how rounds should be selected and so on. The problem is that many of these comments are from those who either assume there is a magic wand to facilitate rounds or that someone else should do it.
Without applications to host rounds, the choice of rounds will always be limited and it has to be acknowledged that perhaps the desired criteria is not met. More applicants means more choice
It is equally frustrating when some organisers claim that they were not awarded rounds or they could run better rounds, etc When the reality is that they never applied for a BEC round in 2016 and did not answer correspondence and emails which were sent to them.
Equally, it also needs to be acknowledged by competitors that organisers have very small windows of opportunity date- wise, and forestry restrictions and date restrictions make it very difficult for them to apply and difficult for ACU to establish a calendar.
We now have a lot of UK riders contesting World and European Championships and this has an effect on when BEC dates are possible. There are 10 FIM / FIME events before the summer and about another 5 before Aug which inevitably pushes the BEC earlier or much later.
There was a clamour over recent years from lots of riders to make all rounds count. We listened and did it. Does it look like such a good decision now?
Be that as it may, it is obvious that the situation needs urgent action, and the T & E will have to take it.
There have been many comments that it would be better to have less rounds and make sure they were to desired standard, and the T & E will act on this. However, please be prepared for a much reduced calendar unless others apply to run with the desired criteria
We therefore draw attention to the remaining 2016 calendar:
6/7
th IOM: This is a new round, and has been awarded. There has been no previous BEC round to assess but they are experienced people and that is all we can rely on. We suggest some help/advice could be offered??
28/28
th Rhayader: Experienced organisers with good facilities
17/18
th Natterjack: The organisers are experiencing problems with land use due to military exercises. They have been working extremely hard exploring possibilities of an alternative but possibly shorter course. We await confirmation and if is deemed not to be to the standards competitors seem to want, the round will be withdrawn
20th Nov Muntjac: Experienced organiser and well established venue and course
For 2017, BEC rounds will not be awarded unless a successful previous BEC round has been held in recent years. New applications will be required to have run a successful event the previous year which will have been assessed as suitable for a BEC.
In addition, the possibility of establishing a “working group” from within the Enduro fraternity will be examined, with this group working with the T &E to take responsibility for the BEC calendar
Trials and Enduro Committee
10.3.16