The first months of the year is currently dominated by the spread of the new Coronavirus 2019 from its point of origin in Wuhan, China, to more and more cities and countries around the globe. Concern for public health has prompted the Ministry of Health of North Rhine-Westphalia to rethink, postpone or even cancel large meetings of all kinds, from professional sporting events and concerts to schools and university courses. We are witnessing how the global health crisis is rewriting the calendar of events for 2020.
Coronavirus and major events - the whole thing is a clear matter in other countries: Italy, France and Switzerland have cancelled everything in principle. In Germany, however, the issue remains an enormous challenge for local authorities. This is precisely why we have been in intensive and constant contact with all partners over the past weeks and days. The current developments regarding Corona (SARS-CoV-2) and the related preventive measures and travel restrictions unfortunately force us to postpone the iXS Dirt Masters Festival 2020 in Winterberg to September of this year.
Why? The athletes and visitors include many people who come from abroad, many of them also from the much more affected regions from all over the world. Some of these people cannot, and are currently not allowed to, travel from their countries of origin. As the organiser of the largest Gravity Mountain Bike Festival, we also have the duty to care for visitors, athletes and exhibitors, and of course towards our own staff and everyone involved in the festival.
The current situation around the Corona Virus and the decree of the Ministry of Health of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia is to postpone the most popular Gravity Mountain Bike Festival in Europe to a later date.
The new date for the iXS Dirt Masters Festival is
September 18-20, 2020
The Bikepark Winterberg and we very much regret this postponement. We are more than aware that this requires a lot of understanding from the athletes and spectators. This decision was not easy, but the risk is not acceptable for all parties involved at the moment.