One of the UK's leading mountain bike events organisers, Tweedlove, has announced an end to its wide and varied events that include a highly popular MTB festival and Scotland's only enduro series – the YT Industries TweedLove Enduro series.
"It's with a heavy heart and after several difficult years keeping everything afloat, these final races over the next couple of months will be our last," said TweedLove's founder Neil Dalgleish in a blog post announcing the decision.
The Tweedlove Festival, the last of which took place in June, has been part of the UK mountain-biking scene for over 14 years, and Tweedlove also organised popular races like the Glentress 7 XC, the Hope Enjoyro EVO, and the Bosch E-MTB challenge, as well as family-orientated events like the Glentress Family Day.
In the emotional blog post on the Tweedlove site, Dalgleish covered the demise of the festival in more detail with dwindling interest in enduro racing and the impact of COVID-19 being some of the main reasons. "We’re not going bust or anything dramatic like that, but it just doesn’t add up for us going forward so we’ll quit while the events are still strong," he stated.
Dalgleish added that costs had risen by 30% since Covid and with bike industry sponsorship at a fraction of the pre-Covid level it made for higher running costs saying "The bottom line is we can’t afford the salaries to attract or retain all the staff we need to do what we do."
The statement continues saying how the "whole enduro vibe had changed" mentioning the below-par management and changing direction of enduro racing at the top level. Dalgleish said "Enduro has moved towards elitism in the racing. Access to the big races has changed and much of the buzz and spirit has disappeared, which has had an impact on grass-roots events and rider participation."
TweedLove also hosted the Bosch E-MTB Challenge which was supported by Trek and had a host of e-MTB-related events including one of the UK’s biggest e-MTB demos, a test track, and e-MTB racing. Dalgleish said, "The development of e-MTB racing is still far from clear. The rise of e-MTB participation and racing is not proving an easy fix for organizers though, as e-MTB races need more stages, more bike scrutiny, and ultimately more work, staff, and facilities and this means a lot more cost."
For the events still yet to take place this year, TweedLove said, "the Glentress 7, Hope Enjoyro EVO, Glentress Family Day, YT Industries TweedLove Enduro Series Round 3 and Tour O' the Borders will go ahead as planned."
The YT Industries TweedLove Enduro Series Round 4, has been canceled, and refunds will be issued.
In a sign that, perhaps, a more positive outcome could still be possible Dalgleish signed off his post by saying: "If anyone has any realistic proposals for how TweedLove can return, we’re all ears."
The full statement from Dalgleish can be read at TweedLove.
