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2015 Restart
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 Dateline: 24-Oct-2015
In 2015 the biggest ever time gap since six day cycle racing started in Britain was finally closed. The curse on the London Six Day had finally been broken and its ghosts laid to rest.
With 35 years since the last London Six most cyclists, and every sports editor, had forgot that they ever happened. Most (or all) did not know what to expect when they returned. Even that former strong supporter of London Six Day races, Cycling Weekly, was not too sure of its position this time. And it failed to mention the event on its front cover or provide very much for the fans inside. The general printed media may have excuses for their lack of coverage. But for CW this may well have been a sad miscalculation. Hopefully next week’s issue will be better.
Looking forward the UK really does need more headline events at all of its fine, modern velodromes. The Revolution series has done a great job - and provided top class racing not just at Manchester but now at Glasgow, London and Derby as well. But the Face Partnership cannot be expected to provide all the UK headline track events - outside of the occasional UCI World Cup or annual championships. There is a need for more racing at the high standard that they have set.
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Translated using Google Translate from the Berlin Six Day web site -
Madison Sports Group acquires Berlin Six Days
London sports event agency buys Berliner 6-Tage-Rennen GmbH Reiner Schnorfeil, the remains of the traditional sports event as head of sponsorship and consultants
Berlin / London, October 6, 2015. The Berlin Six Days is under new ownership. The sole shareholder of the Berlin-6-Day Race GmbH, Reiner Schnorfeil has sold its shares in the Madison Sports Group and will continue as Head of Sponsorship and advisors of the traditional sports event, which is celebrating its 105th edition in Berlin Velodrome next January, obtain.
This was announced by Mark Darbon, CEO of Madison Sports Group, and Reiner Schnorfeil today Tuesday, October 6th 2015, at a press conference in Berlin. The Madison Sports Group with its headquarters in London organized in October after 35 years of break the Six Days Six Day London (October 18 to 23) and expanded with the acquisition of the Berlin event its activities in the international track cycling.
"The appointment of the Berlin Six Day race is on the calendar of tens of thousands people and is one of the most popular track cycling events around the world," said Mark Darbon, CEO of Madison Sports Group. "Over the past years Reiner has built in Berlin a successful brand with great recognition. We look forward to the cooperation and jointly continue with it this way.
Reiner Schnorfeil welcomes the development and looks forward to working with the Madison Sports Group. "For the Berlin Six Day race is the step in the international partnership with the Madison Sports Group of great importance and secures the future of the event for the sports city Berlin", says Reiner Schnorfeil. "For this reason the contracts were extended with the velodrome by the year 2022. The true Berliner fans can look forward to many exciting races with her six-day race. "
The Berlin Six Day Race is being held for the 105th time next January. Start 20 years after its revival in the velodrome at the event for six days, from 28 January to 2 February 2016 at the Berlin Velodrom on Landsberger Allee again internationally successful path cyclists and sportswomen as well as national junior riders and drivers.
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Certainly Madison Sports tried very hard to make London 2015 an all-round success - and by the end on Friday night they had created many new fans and rewarded long time track supporters. Even so it would be foolish to suggest that London in 2016 or beyond is a done deal.
The experience gained in organising such a complex event as a six day will make for even better races in the future. Providing, that is, enough funds are forthcoming. And with the UK’s velodromes having relatively small spectator capacities that means corporate sponsorship is needed to make races viable in the longer term. But now that potential sponsors can see just how good the nights at Lee Valley were last week the task of finding backers could be a little easier next time.
And certainly Madison Sports are showing no lack of ambition or commitment with the little reported announcement earlier this month that they have taken ownership of the Berlin Six Day but retained the existing organisers. So expect an announcement of this expansion soon on the SixDay.com web site ...
And next we await some firm dates for the 2016-17 season to back up their promise to be back in London next year.
But there seems little likelihood that other British venues will be on the Madison Sports agenda. More likely is expansion internationally - perhaps even restoring the Six Day to the US sporting scene. Whereabouts? The clue is in the name ...
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 Dateline: 29-Oct-2015
Nothing much new to report in the week following the rebirth of the London Six.
The latest issue of Cycling Weekly did report on the race - on page 12 - and Rob Hayles, himself a former six day racer, did dedicate his column to it. But clearly the race is going to need much more media exposure in 2016 to maximise its gate receipts.
So now the focus for track fans shifts to Colombia for this weekend’s UCI World Cup. Meanwhile six day fans are eagerly anticipating the Ghent Six next month with the 75th edition of the race starting on the 17th.
For Madison Sports, of course, the 105th Berlin Six Day is their next new challenge starting 28 January. And by then they may have been able to book a good slot in the 2016-17 track calendar for London (Berlin is already booked to 2018). If they can then that should improve their chances of success with the second of the new generation of sixes in London.
For us it’s back to searching for more British Six Day history ...
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Dateline: 29-May-2016
With the plans for the 2016 London Six progressing well the future looks good. Hopefully both the cycling press and the wider sporting media will take up the opportunity to cover the 2016 event in much greater depth.
For their part the organisers now have plenty of experience from both the London and Berlin races within their team and should be able to feed the media in the best way to get noticed.
The 2016-17 Six Day calendar in Europe looks likely to be -
- 25–30 Oct 2016 Six Day London
- 15-20 Nov 2016 Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Gent
- 5-10 Jan 2017 Zesdaagse van Rotterdam
- 12-17 Jan 2017 Sixdays Bremen
- 19-24 Jan 2017 106. Berliner 6 Tage-Rennen
- 26-31 Jan 2017 6 days Copenhagen
So, as yet,, no sign of the return of six day races to Paris, Dortmund or Zürich or even the introduction of a new one at Roubaix. But hopefully the return of London after a gap of over 30 years will rekindle the spirit in some younger promoters.
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