Are you a glutton for punishment? If so, you’re going to love this: A new extreme enduro is headed to North America, and it’s going to be hard. Really hard. With a little luck, it will be hard enough to draw the top extreme enduro stars, as well as the attention of the new World Xtreme Enduro Championship. You see, hard enduro racing has been exploding with popularity lately, and with more rider and sponsor participation, more media coverage and—now—more events, it’s only a matter of time until extreme enduro racing becomes the next yardstick by which all manhood is measured. Boo-yah.
As for the new race up in Canada, the info is currently limited but the event already sounds awesome. It’s scheduled to take place on August 22, 2010, in the beautiful terrain surrounding Patricia, Alberta, Canada. But why is it called Xtinction? The initial press release for the race explains that best:
“Travel back 245 million years to when Dinosaurs ruled the earth.
Imagine a land so desolate, where vegetation has been cooked by the baking sun, where flat land has been eroded into jagged ravines, where dirt has been petrified into rock… Not even the magnificent Dinosaur could survive this place!
Now for the first time in Canadian history, a premier ‘Extreme Hard Enduro’ event will be staged in the ‘Badlands’ where the Dinosaur species came to rest… This event will test the desire of the modern day Off-Road motorcycle enthusiast and present those brave enough a chance to beat XTINCTION!!!
CGRT founder and Xtinction mastermind Lee Fryberger has been working diligently to make this event a reality. “This is my backyard ~ yes it is rugged ~ but it will offer an incredible riding experience for those brave enough to try. With the advent of ‘Extreme Hard Enduro’ events in recent years; as well as CGRT’s involvement in many of these events; I really wanted to combine our experiences and bring this type of event back to North America.”
“We have recently secured access to an incredible area for XTINCTION. It is the most compact ~ gnarliest terrain imaginable and will offer unbelievable spectator and media viewing opportunities! Best of all, it is the perfect place to showcase the immense skill and precision of the competitors” adds Fryberger.
The event will offer a significant purse to attract the best riders from Canada, the U.S, and even Europe. In addition, a CMRC sanctioned Harescramble event will be help the day prior to allow the vast majority of enthusiasts a taste of the ‘Badlands’ without the potential of facing XTINCTION!
Further details coming soon at www.cornergrass.com.”
Sound like a good time to you? Yeah, me too! Speaking on behalf of all of us at Dirt Rider, I’m pretty stoked to see another extreme event pop up on the world radar, and I hope that this race helps bring hard enduro to North America. It’s a ways out at the moment, but I hope to make it up to the Great White North myself and see what Xtinction is all about…eh!
