A BIG THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING GGN 2025!

This year’s Gotland Grand National was a major challenge for everyone involved—for you as participants, for us as organizers, and for our fantastic volunteers. Together, we still did everything we could to ensure that this year’s GGN would be carried out in the best possible way. Unfortunately, when an event involves 3,000 participants and 700 volunteers, and certain decisions must be made on short notice under pressure, some are affected more than others.

As participants, you had to fight hard, and some of you didn’t make it all the way around to complete a lap. As organizers, we always strive to ensure that the track is world-class and drivable even under tough conditions—just like at the Tofta firing range in the 1980s and 1990s, when heavy rain would sometimes pour down on the island. The year 2024 (the first year in Hejdeby), on the other hand, was an extremely dry year with bright sunshine all weekend, and the track received a lot of praise.

The new course, which is 25.2 km long and features new terrain, poses a major challenge during prolonged rain. Unfortunately, as organizers, we could not have foreseen that the course and the race would turn out the way they did this year.

The large new clear-cuts and ditches that couldn’t handle the water flow posed a major challenge for us during GGN 2025. When we began to realize on Friday where things were headed, decisions were made that unfortunately affected some participants. Looking back now, we can still conclude that the GGN leadership made exactly the right decisions to save the race for all competitors in 2025.

We had late-night meetings with the County Administrative Board on Friday evening to explore a Plan B, but since this required approvals from other authorities, we instead decided to call in the four largest backhoes on the island, as well as additional staff, to dig away as much mud as possible and clear a path along the power line corridor so we could remove approximately 200 motorcycles. The work continued until 5:00 a.m. to ensure Saturday’s race could start. The officials who worked during the day also continued through part of the night to transport all the motorcycles to Arena 1. A huge shout-out to them!

DECISION ON A 2-HOUR RACE AND A 1.5-HOUR REST PERIOD
When the race organizers decided to shorten the raceto 2 hours, they considered the big picture—the race, the participants, the officials, and several other factors. This is no small race; it is the world’s largest enduro race, where many different aspects must be taken into account.

When we saw that the race was getting out of hand in two areas—behind Bysarna and along the power line corridor—we immediately began working on finding solutions. It wasn’t possible to reroute the course there because it is subject to regulatory requirements and the terrain doesn’t allow for it. When the race organizers cite safety concerns, it’s because Gotlands Energiverk (GEAB) has completely prohibited participants, spectators, and staff from coming within 20 meters of the power lines along the course. When participants began riding outside the tape markings and under the lines, a serious safety risk arose, which could have resulted in us losing our permit permanently. Motorcycles got caught under the power lines, and the voltage in the lines poses a mortal danger if anyone were to fall down. At times, our officials and even spectators were standing under the lines.

If we had continued for three hours on Friday, we would have had to dig out over 300 motorcycles overnight, instead of the roughly 200 we already had to deal with. To make Saturday’s race possible, we rented four large excavators with operators on short notice and worked through the night. Saturday’s recreational race was also shortened to 2 hours to ensure a level playing field for everyone and to give us time to clear the track before the elite race.

In the elite race, with about 300 participants, we were able to keep the race going for three hours because they were the last to start and there were so few of them. In addition, TV airtime had been booked in Sweden, the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand, and the race was broadcast worldwide via Solid Sport. In the recreational categories, with over 1,000 participants, the risk of a stoppage is significantly greater.

We stand by our decision that the measures taken were entirely appropriate—for both officials and participants. The rest period was changed to 90 minutes on Saturday morning, when we were able to reconvene after everyone had been in different locations during the night’s work. The decision applied to both Friday’s and Saturday’s competitions, including the elite division.

OUTLOOK AND IMPROVEMENTS
As organizers, we are both delighted and proud that we were able to successfully hold this year’s competition. We are already working with the authorities to improve water flow in the area through investments in ditches and bridges, so that similar problems do not arise again. We could not have anticipated that conditions would become so extreme, but we made our decisions based on the situation as it unfolded—always with the best interests of the participants and the competition in mind.

SWEDISH ENDURO CLASSIC
In light of the above, the organizers have decided that one (1) lap for recreational riders, instead of three (3), is sufficient to qualify for the 2025 Enduro Classic. For elite starts 1, 2, 3, and 18, two (2) laps are required instead of four (4).

GOTLAND GRAND NATIONAL 2026!
Registration for GGN 2026 is already open, and over 300 participants have signed up. There are still spots available with a discount of up to 250 SEK—first come, first served!

Best regards,
Conny Bohlin, Angelica Thomsson, Johanna Törnvall
along with the GGN 2025 leadership team