5 Canadian race series bringing events back this summer
Where to race cross country, enduro and downhill in Canada in 2021
Photo by:
Matt Stetson
It feels like it’s been a long while since there was a solid domestic racing calendar in Canada, but this summer, that’s changing. After a few series brought live racing to 2020, there’s several race series – from cross country to downhill – bringing live racing back for Canadian’s in 2021.
FQSC – Coupe de Quebec
Quebec was one of the very few provinces to successfully return to live group racing in 2020. This year, FQSC’s Coupe du Québec is first out of the gates again. The first two rounds, including the first Canada Cup since 2019, are this weekend in Saint-Félicien. There’s a full calendar of cross country racing scheduled over the summer, too. Then, in September, La Belle Province will host Canadian cross country mountain bike national championships at Baie-St.-Paul.
Dunbar Summer Series / BC Cup / Canada Cup Downhill
Gravity racing is back in a big way in B.C. this summer. Dunbar Summer Series kicks off racing with the first-ever “downhill superweek,” starting in with a Canada Cup in Fernie. What’s DH Superweek? Much like BC Superweek, it’s a ton of racing in a short period of time. Three downhill races in eight days. From Fernie, racers head to Panorama for a mid-week race. Then it’s on to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for 2021 Canadian downhill national championships.
Dunbar Summer Series, BC Cup and Canada Cup downhill series are intertwined, with several events counting towards two, or even all three series, but independent. After the three-stop Dunbar Series, the other two keep going with races lasting all the way into September.
Marin Wildside Enduro / Bikepacking / Gravel
Back in, Marin Wildside Enduro is bringing enduro racing back for 2021. This year the Wildside organizers have expanded into gravel and bikepacking events, too. The enduro series usually splits its time between B.C. and Quebec, but the B.C. events are on hold for the moment.
Marin Wildside mixes regional racing with higher aspirations. There are three Enduro World Series Gold Qualifier events on the 2021 calendar, some of the only opportunities for up and coming Canadians to earn EWS points without crossing a border.
St. John’s Enduro Series
Way over on the other side of the country, St. John’s Enduro Series is back for a second year. After being one of a handful of domestic series to race in 2020 (thank you, Atlantic Bubble), SJES is expanding to add a third event in 2021. Racing starts July 18 in Corner Brook, N.L., though that event already has a waitl ist to join.
Norco Canadian Enduro Series
A little later in the summer, Norco Canadian Enduro Series gets underway. Racing starts in late August, but continues into October.
Canada Cup XCO
Canada Cup cross country racing is kicking off in Quebec, but it will travel across the country. There’s stops scheduled in Alberta and New Brunswick this summer. If you want to race the uphill as much as the downs, there should be a race somewhere near you. Or at least sort of near you.
Fast fall
If all that isn’t enough, there’s even more mountain bike racing coming this fall. BC Bike Race and Singletrack 6 are both rescheduled to new dates later in the year. Norco Canadian Enduro Series extends well past summer. Island Cup is bringing grassroots events back to Vancouver Island. And more series are being added to the calendar all the time, so stay tuned. And, if you’re organizing a race series, get in touch! We want to hear about it!
