Durango confirmed its commitment to bringing the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships back to its origin in Durango for 2030, the championships’ 40th anniversary, on Tuesday when it identified a fiscal sponsor.
The city will partner with Iron Horse Bicycle Classic subsidiary Durango Cycling Championships LLC to be the fiscal sponsor of the event.
2030 will mark the first time the world championships are hosted in Durango since their start in 1990 if Durango is selected to host them.
The city has earmarked $200,000 in tourism dollars for the 2030 ICU MTB World Championships. Mike French, city prosperity officer, said the funds were acquired via a memorandum of understanding between the Durango Area Tourism Organization (Visit Durango) board of directors and the city when Visit Durango was brought under city management.
The UCI requires that an applicant to host the world championships has a fiduciary sponsor that will put up a security of 150,000 Swiss Francs, equivalent to $188,000 U.S. dollars, to be held by the UCI until the world championships are held.
Councilor Kip Koso pointed out the exchange rate from USD to Swiss Francs could be different in 2030 from what it is presently.
French agreed.
“We have a little bit of a buffer in place in the event that the dollar continues to weaken or, hopefully, it strengthens. It’s hard to say,” he said.
French said identifying a fiscal sponsor is the final step for the city and Durango Cycling Championships to having their bid accepted by UCI.
UCI, the world’s governing cycling body, will decide which bid it accepts on Sept. 25 at a congress in Rwanda and then announce its decision.
The UCI approached Durango, inquiring if the community was open to bringing back the mountain bike championships back after hosting the original championships four decades ago.
The requirements to host the championships are significant, with financial, venue and lodging components, to name a few, to be considered. But the economic rewards are significant, too.
French said the 2022 UCI Cyclocross World Champs in Fayetteville, Arkansas, had a direct economic impact of just under $10 million and generated $1 million in tax revenues. The 2024 UCI BMX World Champs event in Rock Hill, South Carolina, had a $30 million direct economic impact and generated $2.6 million in tax revenues.
The world championships will consist of five days of competition, seven categories for men and women, featuring 800 athletes from 55 nations, and is expected to have 45 million viewers from across 30 broadcasters, he said.
Gaige Sippy, the architect behind bringing the world championships back to Durango, said another requirement of hosting the event is to host two international cycling events in the years leading up to the championships.
Either a national championship or a UCI event will be held in Durango in 2028 and a world cup, itself a comparable size to the UCI MTB World Championships, will be held in Durango in 2029.
“We landed here because we did this very well in 1990,” he said. “I think our community is a global leader in cycling. There is no question. And so it’s time to bring it back to Durango.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
