The MTB event specialists from “Die Rasenmäher”, Holger Meyer and Karen Eller, have been established figures on the European mountain biking scene for decades. Following on from legendary successful formats such as the “Schnitzeljagd”, the Garmisch-based duo have now devised a new event format. On 5 September, the “Hare’n Scramble” kicks off in the renowned Bike District of Canazei / Val di Fassa – a new, fun enduro event combining tried-and-tested elements with a fresh twist. Tactical acumen and cycling skills are required, whilst the event offers magnificent trails and pure community spirit. In this interview, Holger Meyer talks about the changing landscape of cycling events, shifting customer expectations and the right ingredients for successful concepts.
BIKE: Holger, you’ve made a name for yourselves with riding technique and adventure camps, but you’ve also been true pioneers in the world of MTB events that combine competition and fun with your scavenger hunt events. Now the ‘Hare’n Scramble’ is in the starting blocks. What makes it so special?
Holger Meyer: Essentially, our philosophy remains the same: maximum trail fun and an unforgettable shared experience always come first. But the Hare’n Scramble takes it all to a whole new level – here, it’s clearly all about tackling as many trails as possible in a single day. The Val di Fassa region, with its Bike District, offers an absolutely dream setting. The challenge is enormous: a total of 18 top-class trails are on the programme. Anyone wanting to tackle the full distance will cover around 30 kilometres and a whopping 5,000 metres of elevation gain!
How does the event work?
The format itself is deliberately simple and designed to be extremely exciting. It gets off to a spectacular start with a mass start in the legendary Le Mans style on the mountain. As soon as the starting signal is given, participants are entirely on their own, as there is no set route. ‘Free route choice’ is the magic phrase! Participants – whether on their own, in pairs or with the whole crew – must strategically plan their perfect route and try to collect as many ‘pink bunnies’ as possible along the trails. For those who’d like to take it a bit easier or aren’t quite so experienced on alpine terrain yet, we offer the Blue Challenge. This avoids the difficult black trails entirely, but guarantees exactly the same amount of riding fun. On the other hand, anyone who skips trails or rides less will incur a time penalty. So tactics are at least as important here as pure descent speed.
How exactly does Hare’n Scramble differ from the old scavenger hunt concept, and why did you decide not to simply expand the scavenger hunt series further?
The main difference compared to a scavenger hunt lies in the focus: there are far fewer time-consuming games or tasks at the checkpoints, but in return there is noticeably more genuine trail fun, pure orienteering and a stronger sense of community.
The treasure hunt was a fantastic chapter and had a huge impact on us – we ran this event in Sölden for a full 13 years and really shook up the enduro scene in the process. However, two of the regions where we’d established the trail hunt eventually decided to run the event on their own. For us as an agency, that was the perfect impetus to move on, make room for new creative ideas and launch a fresh format. That’s now the Hare’n Scramble.
The key difference compared to a scavenger hunt lies in the focus: there are far fewer time-consuming games or tasks at the checkpoints, but in return there’s noticeably more genuine trail fun, pure orienteering and a stronger sense of community. That’s what really matters to us today. We focus on the essentials: cycling in one of the world’s most spectacular settings. And the event doesn’t end at the finish line: in the evening, everyone gathers round the campfire for a big barbecue, listens to the DJ, enjoys cold drinks and chats about trails. There’s also a huge raffle with cool prizes from our industry partners. And as the absolute highlight, on Sunday all participants can tackle the world-famous Sella Ronda together once again. Canazei simply offers first-class facilities for this and is an extremely vibrant cycling region that’s constantly growing.
Many mountain bike events on the market are currently struggling noticeably. Are we seeing a normal decline in demand, a drop in purchasing power, or have customers’ expectations simply changed?
It’s a combination of several factors. It’s clear that purchasing, booking and travel behaviour has changed dramatically in recent years. People now book at extremely short notice. Factors such as the current weather forecast, spontaneous leisure plans and simply general flexibility all play a part in the decision right up to the last minute. What’s more, motorcyclists weigh up very carefully what value they’re getting for their hard-earned money. The value for money must be absolutely right.
Value for money is probably not measured solely by what’s on offer in terms of sport. What other surprises are included in your package?
Exactly – that’s why we’ve put together an extremely attractive starter pack for the Hare’n Scramble. For a registration fee of 75 euros, you not only get a starting place including professional timekeeping, but also a high-quality event T-shirt, a BBQ and drinks voucher, free SCOTT test bikes, and exclusive workshops on route planning, suspension and tubeless set-up. If you have a Gravity Card, you don’t even need an additional lift pass. In these times of rising prices, this is a really good deal – one that’s only possible, of course, because we receive substantial subsidies from the local tourism board. Nevertheless, we’re also noticing at our other camps that customers are taking longer to make up their minds before finally clicking ‘Book’. The market is also absolutely flooded with events. As the summer calendar offers only a limited number of weekends, overlaps quickly arise, with events competing for the same participants. It therefore remains an exciting challenge for the entire industry.
Are tourist regions and sponsors still open to mountain bike events of this kind these days, or is it becoming increasingly difficult to win over partners? And what is their main focus – participant numbers, reach or a highly targeted audience?
Fortunately, tourism regions continue to be very receptive to our innovative ideas. Many associations are grateful for a breath of fresh air, and it’s incredibly enjoyable to work together to tailor new event concepts. Our long-standing partner SCOTT is a rock-solid pillar of support for us. A partnership like this is by no means a given, as the biggest problem for many industry sponsors these days is not a lack of willingness or money, but simply the manpower needed to staff the countless event weekends.
The region is always a key factor in event concepts like this. How did you come to choose Canazei?
By hosting the Enduro World Series and the UCI Enduro World Cup (EDR), Val di Fassa has built up an extremely strong – but also very elite – reputation within the core racing scene. With the Hare’n Scramble, they are now deliberately seeking to step out of this purely competitive, cut-throat professional racing niche and open up to the wider ‘everyman and everywoman’ market – specifically the German-speaking amateur enduro and trail riding market.
How many participants are you expecting for the Hare’n Scramble?
With a first-time event, you obviously shouldn’t set your expectations too high when it comes to the number of participants. If we start with 50 participants, we’ll be absolutely delighted. The old scavenger hunt also began back then with just 30 entrants, and by the end there were 600 on the list! The biggest challenge with a new event isn’t finding partners or scouting the route on site anyway, but quite clearly in targeted promotion and marketing. You have to win the participants’ trust first. Once the riders are there and have had a fantastic weekend, they take that spirit home with them, spread the word by word of mouth, and bring their whole cycling crew along next time. We therefore always give a format like this a realistic three years to become firmly established.
As well as the major events, you organise lots of smaller camps with great success. Do you have to constantly reinvent yourselves to stay appealing?
The clear trend in our camp programme is definitely towards exclusivity and trips that are very difficult for individuals to organise and arrange on their own. A classic trip to Finale Ligure, for example, is no longer rocket science these days thanks to social media and digital transparency; there are dozens of shuttle companies there that you can easily book online. There’s hardly any need for us as a tour operator in such cases. But when it comes to epic, complex adventures such as a circumnavigation of Mont Blanc or the legendary Stoneking Rally – which we’ve added to our programme this year – it’s a completely different story.
For adventures like these, you need a wealth of local expertise, a perfectly coordinated network of shuttle drivers with suitable trailers, and exactly the right accommodation at each stage’s destination. This tangible sense of adventure is exactly what people are looking for at the moment, and it’s proving hugely successful. Traditional, purely technical riding courses, on the other hand, are in sharp decline here. Instead, we’re seeing a real boom in smaller gravel adventures, such as my gravel camp in Portugal.
At the moment, we consider traditional long-haul travel involving long flights to be extremely difficult. This is partly due to the drastic rise in airfares, but also, to a very large extent, to the unstoppable rise of the e-bike. The topic of e-MTBs is becoming more and more prominent in our community with each passing year. However, as high-capacity batteries are not permitted on aeroplanes under any circumstances for safety reasons, travelling to distant destinations with your own e-bike is logistically almost impossible.
Josh Welz
Editor-in-Chief