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Enduro World Series postpones both South American rounds due to COVID-19

New race dates set as coronavirus continues its upheaval of mountain bike calendar

Lo Barnachea Enduro World Series EWS Day 2 practice

Two South American rounds of the Enduro World Series are the latest international mountain bike events to be postponed due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

Both rounds have already been rescheduled to dates later in 2020.

Chris Ball, Managing Director of the Enduro World Series, cited the health of riders, fans, staff as the reason for postponing both rounds. “In order to best protect all staff, riders, fans and act in the most responsible way possible in the world’s current situation, we have made the decision to postpone our first two rounds,” says Ball. “We hope the early decision of this date change helps to remove stress from a situation that is causing us all a great deal of difficulty.”

Enduro World Series Lo Barnachea EWS Sam Hill
Sam Hill flying through a crowd of Chilean fans when the EWS was last in South America in 2018.  Image: Enduro World Series

Colombia was set to set to host the opening round in Manizales on March 28-29. That event has been rescheduled to November 7-8, 2020.

Chile was next on the EWS schedule. The event in Farellones moves from April 4-5 to its new dates on 15-15 November.

Ignacio Barboas, the Race Director for the Chilean round, is taking the news in an impressively positive light. “We at Montenbaik see this as an opportunity, since we will have the last race of the year of the Enduro World Series,” says Barboas. “This gives us more time to surprise everyone even more with the best trails and a high-level event.”

The EWS’s announcement arrives the day after news that Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) would be postponing the first World Cup downhill round. It had been scheduled for March 13-15 in Lousã, Portugal. No new dates for the Lousã event have been set.

EWS’s postponement also coincides with the World Health Organization changing the status of the COVID-19 outbreak to a pandemic, as reported by the CBC. The WHO had previously labelled COVID-19 as a global health emergency of international concern in late January.

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Chile and Colombia last hosted EWS round in early 2018.

Full statement from Enduro World Series

The Enduro World Series (EWS) has announced that the first two rounds of the 2020 season in Colombia and Chile have been postponed in an effort to help contain the global spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus).

Round one scheduled to take place in Manizales, Colombia at the end of the month has been moved to the weekend of 7-8 November whilst round two that was due to take place on April 4-5 in Farellones, Chile will now take place on 14-15 November 2020.

South America currently has a very low incidence of confirmed cases of Coronavirus, but with riders travelling to the events from across the globe the decision has been made to delay the races until later in the year in the interest of everyone’s safety. 

Chris Ball, Managing Director of the Enduro World Series, said: “In order to best protect all staff, riders, fans and act in the most responsible way possible in the world’s current situation, we have made the decision to postpone our first two rounds. We hope the early decision of this date change helps to remove stress from a situation that is causing us all a great deal of difficulty. We look forward to getting our season started in May and thank all of our partners and staff for their support in these challenging times.”

Speaking from Colombia, round one Race Director Jorge Mario Jaramillo said: “The planet faces a fairly delicate health situation. This situation has globally affected multiple massive events, mainly sports. For the global well-being of athletes and spectators, and for recommendations of local, national and world authorities it is out of our hands and we have no choice but to delay the EWS Manizales. The party is postponed!”

And round two Race Director Ignacio Barboas added: “We as Montenbaik see this as an opportunity, since we will have the last race of the year of the Enduro World Series. This gives us more time to surprise everyone even more with the best trails and a high-level event.”