2008 Bradbury Mountain Enduro CANCELLED!

SHITBALLS!
Just read this on the MMBA website:

Sunday - July 27, 2008Bradbury Mountain State Park - Pownal, MaineBradbury Mountain Enduro canceled. Due to many factors, it is with mixed emotions that I have decided to cancel the 2008 Bradbury Mountain Enduro, a race I started in 1998 as the Bradbury Mountain Challenge. The idea of having a race at Bradbury Mountain State Park came about after Mick Rogers, then park ranger, asked me how to get more mountain bikers to come and use the park. Over the years the race has drawn riders from all over the east coast and Canada. And in 2007 it had the highest attendance of any race in the EFTA New England Championship Series.Having the race in the park has prompted extensive trail building and maintenance by both the park staff and volunteers and has helped grow the trail system to almost 30 miles, making it the largest mountain bike trail system in the state.The race has also raised tens of thousands of dollars that has all been donated back to the park as well as other organizations like The Bicycle Coalition of Maine, The Pownal Land Trust, The Bike Shop program in Portland’s Kennedy Park and the Pownal Fire Department, just to name a few.With staff changes at the park earlier this year, most notably the departure of Mick Rogers and Brian Kalenberg, I knew that organizing and running the race again in 2008 would be a challenge.After numerous discussions with the new park staff it was clear that planned trail closures and new policies would make holding the race on the previously established course impossible. This would not only make the event more difficult to organize, but it would also change the dynamics and the allure of an event that has become a unique and epic experience for anyone who participates. These reasons as well as my business and personal commitments, and those of the staff at Gorham Bike and Ski, finalized my decision.In closing I would like to say that we accomplished the goal that we set out to do, which was to increase the number of visitors to the park by establishing mountain bike trails and promote a great event. Mick says the increase has been significant over the years solely do to the amount of mountain bikers coming through the gate. I would also like to thank all those volunteers that helped with the race each and every year. Mostly I would like to thank Mick Rogers for his dedication to the sport, he stuck to his plan to build and maintain a great trail system which is now heavily used by mountain bikers from all over.

Jamie WrightOwner, Gorham Bike and Ski