With the final arrival in Davos, the first “Swiss Epic” stage race for mountain bikers in Grisons ended on Saturday. In teams of two, almost 600 bikers had covered 350 kilometers of trails and passes with a difference in altitude of 12,000 meters. There were only happy faces at the destination — not least among the Graubünden tourism professionals. After all, 42 nations took part in the first edition.
Swiss Epic is a “Pro-Am” race: It is open to professionals and amateurs. The participants are all in top shape. At the top, professionals race for seconds, rewards and points, and the broad field is fighting for the title of “finisher.”
Anyone who is a Swiss Epic finisher can certainly imagine something about it on the scene. After all, the Swiss Epic is the only European qualifying race for the holy grail of mountain bikers: the Absa Cape Epic in South Africa.
“Being named Cape Epic in the same train is an enormous value in the mountain bike community,” underlines Marc Schlüssel, marketing manager for the Lenzerheide holiday region. “Cape Epic is the world's most popular multi-stage race and the starting places sell out in just a few minutes.”
For 15 years now, amateurs and professionals have been riding on the cape for eight days on endless, dusty trails through hot deserts and picturesque vineyards. Because the World Cup season in the northern hemisphere hasn't started yet in March, some of the best drivers in the world are usually also at the start. They train at the Cape anyway and use the Cape Epic to determine their location.
Six destinations work together
Swiss Epic's partnership with Cape Epic is no accident. Both races are owned by the Ironman Group, which organizes and markets hundreds of sporting events worldwide.
However, the fact that the starting places for the first Swiss Epic in Grisons were completely sold out in winter was still surprising: “Swiss Epic in Grisons is a new event. It speaks for Graubünden's status as a mountain bike destination that we were able to sell all seats so quickly in the first year,” says Felix Eichenberger from the organizer Swiss Epic AG, who re-advertised the alpine race internationally after five events in Valais and finally awarded it to Grisons.
The contract for Graubünden is due to Reto Branschi, CEO of the destination Davos Klosters. Branschi was the first to recognize the opportunity and visited Cape Epic. He quickly realized that such an event would overwhelm a single town and began to bring the other leading destinations in the canton on board.
With Davos Klosters, Arosa, Laax, Lenzerheide, Scuol and St. Moritz, he brought the six most important players together. In addition, he also managed to get the Canton of Grisons to recognize the tourist value of the event and financially support it. The canton is doing this out of conviction, said Councillor Marcus Caduff before the start, “and with the expectation that a multi-day bike festival of international appeal will develop.”
“Swiss Epic in Graubünden is not simply a mountain bike race. It is a tourism project lasting at least five years,” says Branschi. Through worldwide media coverage and word of mouth on social networks, he wants to reach bikers from all continents and bring them to Grisons.
“With Swiss Epic, we can target mountain bikers in markets that we don't even work on in traditional marketing. The fact that we already had 42 nations at the start in the first year shows that our calculation is paying off. The event exceeded our expectations.”
Positive added value for the canton
The six destinations and the canton are now putting 1.1 million francs on the table annually for the event, making a significant contribution to financing the total budget of 2.4 million francs.
1.1 million is undoubtedly a considerable sum, but even at the first event, the organizer spent around 1.3 million in the canton. The biggest single item is likely to be the approximately 3,100 overnight stays in hotels, which the organizer bought for the convoy of participants and helpers.
There is no value-added study on the occasion yet. However, the many additional, individually booked overnight stays and the everyday spending of participants and their companions at the stages are likely to contribute significantly. The numerous articles in specialist media and blogs around the world as well as thousands of posts on participants' social networks are also indirectly significant.
Bikers are harder to tie down to individual destinations
It is no coincidence that the six Graubünden destinations are joining forces for a mountain bike event of all things: mountain bikers are less loyal to their destinations than other guests. With their bike, they can easily overcome the mostly political borders of destinations.
“Bikers don't want to limit themselves to a single location for bike holidays, but want to start locally and travel “far,” says André Gisler, Tourism Director at Flims Laax Falera. “Bikers want to try out a lot.” Anyone who wants to successfully manage them must therefore think in terms of larger geographical units.
In addition, the participating destinations have positioned themselves differently in the bike sector. Davos markets itself as a paradise for single trails, the Engadin relies on flow trails for connoisseurs, Lenzerheide is known for its World Cup routes, Arosa relies on “easy biking” as a family thing, Scuol and the national park stand for nature experiences, and Laax positions itself for a rather young target group.
The stages and the organizer of the Swiss Epic in Grisons attach great importance to scenic and technically demanding, but not too difficult trails. “The first edition was a “best of” of the most beautiful trails in Grisons,” summarized Thomas Frischknecht. The multiple world champion and Olympic medalist had once co-founded Swiss Epic in Valais and took part in the premiere in Grisons.
“That was a great start and the start of a success story,” he predicts.
It is not yet clear whether and where the Graubünden destinations will cooperate next. “There is certainly an openness to upcoming events and tourism cooperation in Grisons,” says Pascal Jenny, spa director at Arosa. After all, the Grisons collaborations on the Tour de Suisse, the Super10 fight and now the Swiss Epic would have worked perfectly.
The second Swiss Epic in Graubünden will take place from August 18 to 22, 2020 and will take you from Laax via Arosa to Davos. The six partner towns of Arosa, Davos, Laax, Lenzerheide, Scuol and St. Moritz alternate as stages from year to year.