Elsa Bike Trophy, Frigaz BerGiBike, Eiger Bike Challenge, National Park Bike Marathon, O-Tour Bike, Iron Bike Race. These are all events that make for tense muscles, shaved legs and countless hours of training for marathon mountain bikers. However, the popular events have also caused disagreements backstage in recent weeks between the coordinator Chassot Concept and the respective race organizers.

During the 2015 season, Chassot Concept took over the Swiss Bike Marathon Series as coordinator. The event professionals around agency founder Richard Chassot manage a broad portfolio of events, including the Tour de Romandie road race, the car-free Slow Up Gruyère experience day and the Ceo Golf Challenge golf event.

Coordinator announces the end
Chassot Concept has now announced on the race series' website that the 2016 edition has been canceled. When asked, Martin Horn from Chassot Concept explained that the coordination of the series in 2015 had been characterized by a loss. More than 100 potential title sponsors had been approached for the 2016 edition, and a potential title sponsor had been found. According to Horn, it was not possible to reach an agreement with the race organizers as they do not want to compromise their own sponsorship contracts with a title sponsor.

Organizers reposition themselves
As Martina Hänzi from the Nationalpark Bike Marathon explains, it is indeed a major challenge to reconcile the demands of a title sponsor with the demands of the sponsors of the individual races. And due to differing views on communication from the previous coordinator, the organizers are now taking matters into their own hands:

Nothing should change for the Marathonisti
On March 21, the representatives of the respective marathon races will meet to found an association. This association will organize the future marathon race series. It is not yet clear whether the series will be renamed. According to Hänzi, one thing is already clear: nothing should change for marathon mountain bikers and especially for participants in the series. Under discussion are possible changes to the scoring system, i.e. how many races have to be contested in order to be included in the overall ranking. Hänzi says that the marathon series will be reorganized and new partnerships will be entered into.www.swissbikemarathon.ch