The 2020 Dirty Kanza will fall the the same day as Grinduro California and several other events including the Marathon National Championships. As many other summertime gravel races are doing the same thing, the fall calendar is getting crowded.
The Garmin Dirty Kanza 200 has rescheduled from May 30 to September 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Race owner Life Time announced the schedule change Sunday evening. Nearly 4,000 riders are registered to ride in the sold-out event.
In addition to scouring the calendar for dates that conflicting with as few other races as possible, the Life Time team also has to coordinate with the City of Emporia, Kansas, emergency response, volunteers, sponsors, and others.
Riders signed up for the race have three options:
- They can race in September
- They can defer their entry to the 2021 event
- They can get a refund. Riders have until May 15 to let Life Time know their choice.
“Several weeks ago that we announced that we would have a decision made no later than May 1st. And almost immediately we started hearing cries that that was too late,” Cummins said. “We knew all along that we would make the best decision we could as soon as we could. We looked at every single contingency. That process just took time.”
The entire Dirty Kanza team has been working around the clock in order to make the best and most prudent decision for all of our athletes, volunteers, sponsors, vendors and the members of the Emporia community. It is with everyone’s health and safety in mind that we are postponing the Garmin Dirty Kanza and Garmin Dirty Kanza XL presented by Salsa Cycles and moving the 2020 event to September 10th – 13th, with race day being Saturday, September 12th.
It is our hope that we can all continue doing our part to “flatten the curve” and can bring you all to Emporia in the fall. We will continue to work with local and regional health officials, as we have been doing, to monitor this ongoing situation.
Find more details at dirtykanza.com.