This year's King's Cup Gravel Festival has been cancelled after Forestry England increased their fees for hosting the event.
The festival, which since its launch in 2021 has incorporated the British Gravel Championships, was set to take place on the weekend of 13 September.
The venue for the event has always been the King's Forest near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, which is under the management of Forestry England.
However, in an announcement late last month the organisers announced that the festival would not take place this year.
"We have been forced to cancel King's Cup Gravel Festival due to Forestry England imposing unacceptably high venue fees, pushing towards 20% of event revenue, which is a substantial increase from past years," say the organisers in a statement on the King's Cup website.
"Despite previous negotiations and our past success in securing fair terms, the latest demands presented to us just recently, present an existential threat for the event.
"This fee structure not only challenges our ability to deliver the high-standard experience you expect but also shows a lack of consideration for the increasing costs in the events industry and the broader economic pressures all of us are facing."
The organisers are currently finalising a new location for the festival in 2025.
In the meantime, the British Gravel Championships will instead take place on Saturday 31 August as part of the Raiders Gravel weekend.
Based in Gatehouse of Fleet, Scotland, Raiders Gravel is a four-day, three-stage gravel racing event taking in the trails of Galloway Forest.
All entries to the British Gravel Championships will be automatically transferred to the new event at Raiders Gravel.
Riders who had entered other events at the King's Cup Festival, including the night ride, enduro and gravel sportive, will receive a full refund of the entry fee plus any optional extras they purchased.
For more details on the new location of the British Gravel Championships and how to register, visit the event website at britishgravelchampionships.com.
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