FIM Hard Enduro calendar confirmed

The freshly-established FIM Hard Enduro World Championship calendar is complete, with legendary events like Erzbergrodeo and Red Bull Romaniacs confirmed.

With eight rounds across two continents, the world’s best extreme enduro riders will compete for the inaugural Hard Enduro World Championship. Riders expected to feature include Manuel Lettenbichler, Alfredo Gomez, Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Billy Bolt and Wade Young.

Starting in Portugal in May, the series will also visit Austria, Italy, Romania, USA, Poland, Spain and Germany, with each round presenting a vastly different challenge.

Extreme or hard enduro is a relatively new motorcycle discipline that sees riders tackle highly difficult and technical obstacles over long distances. Compared to traditional enduro, which is more about speed and finesse, hard enduro requires a high level of technique and brute force, with riders often pushed well outside their comfort zones.

Formerly known as the World Enduro Super Series (WESS), the FIM Hard Enduro Championship will allow its riders to compete at world championship level for the first time.

The WESS was established in 2018, utilising existing events like Erzberg to offer an alternative to the struggling EnduroGP series. It was the first global series for hard enduro and now, thanks to a deal with the FIM, it has world championship status.

“This is a very exciting time for us and our sport,” said WESS Promotion's Winfried Kerschhaggl. “The past three years helped us to gain the recognition of the FIM, and we’re ready to take the next step as the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship.”

FIM CEO, Tony Skillington, said that the series will become ‘a very important part’ of the FIM calendar. “Every once in a while an opportunity comes to do something very interesting and new in motorcycle sport," he said. "I am more than pleased that we are finally signing a four-year contract for the promotion of a FIM Hard Enduro World Championship.”

Several events from previous WESS seasons will return, such as Extreme XL Lagares (Portugal), Red Bull TKO (USA), Hixpania Hard Enduro (Spain) and the Getzenrodeo (Germany), but two new events, in Italy and Poland respectively, will join the series in 2021.

Round 1: Extreme XL Lagares – Portugal, May 7-9
Round 2: Red Bull Erzbergrodeo – Austria, June 3-6
Round 3: Abestone Hard Enduro – Italy, July 10-11
Round 4: Red Bull Romaniacs – Romania, July 27-31
Round 5: Red Bull TKO – USA, August 13-15
Round 6: Hero Challenge – Poland, September 18-19
Round 7: Hixpania Hard Enduro – Spain, October 1-3
Round 8: GetzenRodeo – Germany, October 29-30