Blue Eskimo have gone out of business

Rob / 14.03.2002

Blue Eskimo have gone out of business before the 2002 season is underway.

Their early plans for a series of 4 races were shelved in favour of just retaining one race, which was to have been the qualifier for the new British Championships on June 29/30th. That’s now been cancelled and some teams who sent in entry fees have had letters telling them the funds have been retained to meet costs. In other words the company has gone into administration and the money is just gone!

It’s a sad end for the Blue Eskimo team, and company founder James Hooper. Since their first race in the Peak District in March 2000 (which you can read about in our race archives) they have pioneered demanding weekend races with overnight stages. Their departure leaves a hole in the UK race schedule as there is no comparable series.

Perhaps the format was part of the problem and they were thinking of shorter, easier and more accessible races for this year. Trouble is everyone has been thinking that way and putting one-day races on in the South of England! (Quest, ACE, Trailplus and Salomon.)

The terrible impact of Foot and Mouth last year has to have been the major contributing factor though. Blue Eskimo had an awful time with races moved, planned and cancelled. It didn’t seem to matter what they tried, things didn’t work out. For this year they tried to move into the corporate training area with 3 new race/challenges called The Point, but never got the chance to develop the idea.

The cancellation of the one competitive race planned lefty the new British Championship minus a qualifying event before it had even begun. As a result the Blue Eskimo race will be replaced by this years Adrenalin Rush. It’s not ideal to include such a demanding race but there few options and the race will be included for this year only.