TMX Says: Tough, but not as we know it
By TMX Archives on 27th Jul 16
Way back in April 2014 shortly after the Tough One was held there come to think of it I fantasised about the possibility of Hawkstone Park hosting a round of the Enduro World Championship.
And, low and behold it seems like my wildest of dreams are gonna come true in just over a year's time.
Only as it turns out they're actually not...
According to the provisional calendar that series promoters ABC released recently it's a fact that the seventh round of the 2017 Maxxis FIM Enduro World Championship will happen at Hawkstone Park on Sept 23/34.
However, there's a big fat asterisk next to those dates that points to the Saturday being a Sprint Enduro while Sunday's action is a GNCC.
While I would love to see the EnduroGP elite compete in those types of races when I go to see a round of the EnduroGP series I wanna see a bona fide round of the EnduroGP series.
Admittedly the Sprint day – which might well utilise multiple tests anyway – won't lose much by missing a stack of liaison miles in between the timed tests but running a GNCC-style race on the Sunday just seems wrong somehow and scarily might mark the beginning of the end for timecard enduros on the world stage.
Certain riders have argued for a long time that the Enduro World Championship should encompass a variety of event types including traditional timecard enduros plus hare and hound, desert, beach and extreme races.
While I tend to agree that a championship like that would be really cool, at the same time I love the traditional aspect of the EWC and think it would be better to take it a step backwards towards its true roots rather than progress it forward in this way.
Although I don't have first hand experience to back this up I think it's fairly safe to say that the EWC has changed massively from the time Paul Edmondson won his first title in 1990 to son Jack picking up his maiden crown some 26-years later.
As an overall thing the series is undoubtedly bigger and better than it's ever been before right now but any real enduro enthusiast will tell you that ‘the EWC ain't proper enduro no more' and that's a real shame.
I understand the need for progress and wilfully admit that you see it in almost every sport but have FIFA made football's rules more spectator friendly?
Is cricket still the same game as it was 100 years ago?
Do rugby players still get to grips with odd-shaped balls?
While glamour and glitz has enhanced the shows somewhat the games at the centre of them all remains the same and the fans still come flocking.
Obviously enduro is a little more niche than those mainstream sports but even racing disciplines like speedway and sidecar-cross are essentially run the same as they ever were and they're both currently booming!
So while I love the fact that the EWC is coming back to the UK, I'm a little disappointed to learn that we're only gonna see a slightly sanitised version that might well be more spectator friendly but isn't quite the real deal.
I guess it's like going to the zoo when what you really want to witness is a lion roaming majestically through the Serengeti.
I mean wouldn't you all rather see Steve Holcombe, Danny and Jamie McCanney,
Nathan Watson, Jack Eddy and all roaring in their own natural habitat too?
