No CHALLENGEALMERE-AMSTERDAM 2020: ‘Uncertainty prevents guaranteeing quality’

With pain in our hearts and a lump in our throats we have to inform you today of a very difficult decision we’ve just made: this year – 2020 – CHALLENGEALMERE-AMSTERDAM will not take place at all. It is a very diffuclt decision for us, but at the same time we realize that this is the only right decision we can make right now.

With all the corona measures still in place, it is impossible to guarantee the quality of our event in September. Unfortunately, there is still too much uncertainty about how larger events will be handled in the coming period. To clarify, CHALLENGEALMERE-AMSTERDAM has about 4000 participants, 700 volunteers and attracts an average of 30.000 supporters annually on an event terrain in the middle of a big city centre.

Why are we taking this decision now? It has an explanation as logical as it is simple: the assessment frameworks for an event like CHALLENGEALMERE-AMSTERDAM have been adjusted regularly in recent weeks and therefore there was always perspective. At the same time, that perspective remained unclear. That’s why we took the final decision today to not organize our event. At this moment it is still very uncertain for us if we would get a permit and we don’t want to leave you – our athletes for whom we are organizing this event – in uncertainty anymore. A longer delay is unfortunately not an option: the preparation time for our event will be too short, so we will no longer be able to guarantee the quality of our event.

All athletes will receive a personal email today with information about refunds.

For now, all that remains for us to say is: this decision is hard for us, but we understand that it’s an equally big disappointment for you. We promise you one thing: next year we will come back and host another great event. Then we will organize the ITU Multisport World Championships and with it the 40th edition of this great event. We can’t wait!

Team CHALLENGEALMERE-AMSTERDAM