Around Zschopau
Around Zschopau is an enduro event that has been held in and around the city of Zschopau in the Ore Mountains since 1955 . Due to its demanding course and the often bad weather conditions, the event is considered one of the world's most difficult enduro events. The number of visitors today is around 30,000 to 40,000. This makes around Zschopau the most popular motorsport event in Saxony after the motorcycle world championship race on the Sachsenring .
history
Enduro events, at that time still called cross-country sport or motorcycle performance tests, took place in the Middle Ore Mountains as early as the mid-1920s. At first it was mainly training trips for the local Six Days drivers. After the Second World War , a GDR best test took place in 1952 under the name “Around Chemnitz”, in which Zschopau was also a transit point. With the support of the local motorcycle factory in Zschopau , the first off-road trip "Around Zschopau" was carried out on October 16, 1955. In the following year the competition was already rated as a run for the GDR championship. From 1957 to 1974 it was held as a two-day trip. This means that on the second day the route was traveled in the opposite direction.
In 1968 the event was also the first ever run for the European Championship in cross-country sport. Further European championship runs took place in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972. Due to political decisions, no further EM rounds were allowed to take place from this point on. From this point on, participation by Western European starters was no longer possible. In 1979, 1981, 1984, 1987 races for the “Cup of Friendship of Socialist Countries” took place as two-day events. Due to the success of the GDR team at the International Six Day Race in 1987, the race was held in 1990 as a run for the Enduro World Championship .
After reunification , the support of the Zschopau motorcycle factory ceased in 1990. Thus, no further championship runs could be held in the following years. However, the clubs and enduro athletes based in the region tried not to let enduro sport fall asleep. In 1992, EMC Witzschdorf organized a so-called "November Enduro". In 1996 the event had grown again to such an extent that it was held as the International November Enduro. The next run in 1997 was again considered the final run of the German Enduro Championship . Since 1999 the event has again been titled “Around Zschopau”. This name change took so long because the active people in the organizing MSC Rund um Zschopau wanted to wait until the former MC MZ Zschopau managers passed their names on to the “newcomers”. In 2004, the German sports federation DMSB applied for the event to the FIM for the World Championship run as the final run of the Enduro World Championship. With around 125,000 spectators, the audience interest was well above expectations. Usually a World Championship run is held over two daily races, also in Zschopau. However, those responsible at the MSC used the opportunity to invite many former athletes from various nations to additional events. A parallel motocross with 48 former world and European champions was initiated as a supporting program. More than 20,000 spectators came to this competition alone.
In 2005 the run was again the final of the German Enduro Championship and at the same time the final run of the Austrian State Championship.
Due to the efforts to carry out an environmentally friendly event in accordance with the new, at that time still provisional, environmental guidelines of the national federation, the organizers received the DMSB environmental award in 2004 and the FIM environmental award in 2005. These efforts and suggestions are now the norm for ecologically sustainable off-road sport in Germany.
Since 2009, the first special stage of the overall event has been a prologue in a smaller space with artificial obstacles.
The event did not take place in 2012. However, striking sections of the route were part of the daily stages on the third and fourth day of competition of the 87th International Six-Day Race with start and finish at the Sachsenring .
In July 2013 the longtime chief scientist Gunter Illgen died. In recognition of his special services to the event in particular as well as the Saxon enduro youngsters and German enduro sport in general, the "Gunter Illgen Memorial Cup" was initiated by the MSC Rund um Zschopau eV, his widow and the ADAC Sachsen eV. This special ranking will only take place at Rund um Zschopau. For this purpose, all drivers from Saxony up to 23 years of age are recorded across all classes. The winner of the challenge cup is who is the fastest after the first two rounds based on the special stage times.
In 2017 the event was again the final run of the Enduro World Championship. In October 2020 the event will again be the final run of the Enduro World Championship.
Winners lists
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literature
- Steffen Ottinger: “Around Zschopau. The history of a motorcycle off-road trip " , Volume 1, Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Marienberg, Marienberg, 2004, ISBN 3-931770-49-4
- Steffen Ottinger: “Around Zschopau. The history of a motorcycle off-road trip ” , Volume 2, HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-036705-2
- Programs 1999 - 2005
Individual evidence
- ↑ “Around Zschopau” starts 2009 for the first time with a prologue! In: enduro-zschopau.de. MSC Rund um Zschopau eV, September 2, 2009, accessed on October 25, 2017 .
- ↑ The Gunter Illgen Memorial Cup. In: enduro-zschopau.de. MSC Rund um Zschopau eV, September 30, 2013, accessed on October 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Enduro World Championship 2017: Final in Zschopau! In: enduro-zschopau.de. MSC Rund um Zschopau eV, May 17, 2016, accessed on July 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Officially confirmed: EnduroGP final again in Zschopau! In: enduro-zschopau.de. MSC Rund um Zschopau eV, July 27, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019 .
