24 Hours of Adrenaline yesterday announced the date and venue for their solo world championship event. Keen observers knew something was in the works - they previously announced a much reduced 06' schedule and billed it "part 1", leaving room for the assumption there was more to come. There is some long standing bad blood between Adrenaline and Granny Gear, so it should come as no surprise that Adrenaline decided to put their world's event the week before the 24 hours of Moab.
Given Adrenaline's proclivity to ban riders for speaking, after this post it'll be obvious where my choice will be...but really Adrenaline, what are you thinking? Moab is the granddaddy of them all, you can't touch it. But for riders at the pointy end of the field, you present a real conundrum. This is completely unfair to the riders because you force them to make a choice. How much sense does it make to have the two biggest 24 hour events of year on back to back weekends? There's a not so hidden agenda here.
As a bit of background...GG formed the AMTRI in '95. So far as I can tell this is simply a framework from which 24 hour events should be run. It's been a part (the heart?) of the contention between Adrenaline and GG, both publicly and legally.
There is no independent, impartial sanctioning for 24 hour events...so each promoter claiming it's event to be the "Worlds" has as much right to do so as the other. Ah, then there's the Kona Global series...but put that on hold for now...so it would seem that it's rider acceptance that creates the most status, entitling a promoter to claim the title "worlds". In the past, that seems to have been Adrenaline's event. But given Adrenaline's mounting trouble in the public eye and latest schedule conflicts, that all could change.
I guess we'll just have to wait until October to see where all the big dogs cast their vote.