The series will comprise seven events in total, with destinations and venues as diverse as Kenya and Iceland included in the roster. The whole series is overseen by Klassmark, an event organiser based in Girona who have put on more than 150 events over the past 13 years.

In order to agree on the roster of events to be included in the series, Klassmark put together an “advisory group made up of internal and external gravel athletes and professionals”. This group was given some strict criteria to follow during the selection process – “events must promote gravel in a positive way, inspiring the community through their territory and tracks. These events must go beyond the competition, offering parallel activities linked to gravel throughout the weekend or the days of the event.“

From a practical perspective selected event organisers must design a route which “promote remote areas that are not very crowded by the general public to find genuine contact with the Earth.” Organisers are requested to “avoid asphalt, concrete and bike lanes as much as possible“ but also “avoid the rocky sections, more typical of MTB”

The series includes an impressively diverse range of events, including “a stage format race, a rally with timed sections, circular, linear and geometric tracks.” The organisers describe the series as “Gravel in all its forms.“ Events are scheduled to run from March onwards and will finish with the Earth Final in October/November.

Participants in the series who want to receive an overall ranking will need to take part in a minimum of two events plus the Earth Final, which will score double points. As each event is so diverse the Gravel Earth Series “takes into account the difficulty and prestige of the event to award one category or another. This system allows establishing a common ranking with challenges of different formats. “

You can find more details about the series over on their website