Current sponsor Go Outdoors have announced that this year’s Mountain Mayhem 24hr mountain bike race will be the last one ever.

>>> How to survive a long distance mountain bike ride

The 2017 Mountain Mayhem will actually be the 20th anniversary edition of the famous endurance event. The event was the first ever 24 hour mountain bike event in the UK when it began back in 1998.

Around the turn of millennium, Mountain Mayhem was arguably the biggest non-DH event in the calendar. One of its earliest sponsors was Red Bull (to this day some people still call the event the Red Bull 24 Hour).

Longest running 24hr race in the world

Over the year’s the event has changed title sponsor numerous times and has even changed the location of its venue from Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire to Eastnor Park in Herefordshire to its current venue of Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire.

Bowing out in its current guise after twenty years means that Mountain Mayhem has achieved the status of being the longest-running 24 hour mountain bike event in the world. That’s some going and a very suitable point to call it a day.

A word from Mayhem’s main man

Originator of Mountain Mayhem Pat Adams said: “I think when you are the first of something is makes it special and unique. We are proud that Mountain Mayhem has been the must ride event for so many.

“Little did we know 20 years ago when my business partner Jill Greenfield and I embarked on our first ever Mayhem for Red Bull at Trentham Gardens, that we would still be here 20 years later.

“Over the years, Mountain Mayhem has evolved from an event for serious riders and professionals to what it is today, a celebration of cycling, a festival of family fun. The young guys who rode it 20 years ago now have children riding. It’s fantastic to see.”

If you’ve thought about entering Mountain Mayhem before but never managed to, here’s your last chance. Enter now.

They think it’s all over…

But hold on. This isn’t the end of the Mountain Mayhem as a race name. Adams teased: “When we created Mountain Mayhem it was a first. Now after 20 years we want to build on our foundations. That’s why we have decided to create another first. There will still be a Mountain Mayhem, but one that is completely different to anything anyone in mountain biking has seen before.”

There’s no details on what the future Mountain Mayhem format is going to be. We’ll let you know when we know anything.

In the meantime, congratulations and good luck to Pat and his team with the last ever 24 Hour Mountain Mayhem.