(Group Image 1, From Left: Domenec Fernández, Sports Director of the RFME; Pedro Mariano, FIM 6DAYS Race Director and member of the FIM Enduro commission; Luis López Diéguez, President of the Pontevedra Deputation; José Ramón Lete, General Secretary for sport of the Xunta de Galicia; Luisa sanchez mendez, Vice President & Sport Deputy of Deputation de Pontevedra;José Canda, President of the Galician Motorcycle Federation and head of the organisation (Motoclub Móvete Na Moto) © RFMEs)
600 riders, 30 participating countries and a direct impact of more than 4.5 million euros. The 6DAYS®️ of Enduro arrives in Galicia. The competition is also associated with the implementation of an ambitious sustainability plan, which marks the future of motorcyling and outdoor events.
The Deputation of Pontevedra hosted the presentation of one of the most important world events in motorcycling, the 98 NOCO FIM 6DAYS®️, which this year will take place in Galicia and paddock based in Silleda. The competition will cross several municipalities of the community centre. The province of Pontevedra will host most of the tests and the event route, from 14 – 19 October as well as the race headquarters and the paddock, based in Silleda – Recinto Ferial de Galicia / Fundación Semana Verde, which will bring together 600 athletes from 30 nations from all continents.
The presentation took place in the Assembly Hall of the Pontevedra Deputation, organised by the Deputation itself, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and the local organiser of the Moto-club Móvete na Moto. The event was led by Luis López Diéguez, President of the Pontevedra Deputation; José Ramón Lete, General Secretary for sport of the Xunta de Galicia; Pedro Mariano, FIM 6DAYS Race Director and member of the FIM Enduro commission; Domenec Fernández, Sports Director of the RFME; and José Canda, President of the Galician Motorcycle Federation and head of the organisation (Motoclub Móvete Na Moto) in the presence of Luisa sanchez mendez, Vice President & Sport Deputy of Deputation de Pontevedra. In addition, there was the presence of some riders and technicians who will participate in the competition. During their speech, they shared their experience in previous editions as well as their expectations for this year.
During the presentation, José Canda, President of the Galician Motorcycle Federation and head of the organisation (Motoclub Móvete Na Moto) explained the competition: “The tests will take place in three Galician provinces, Pontevedra, Ourense and A Coruña, in the municipalities of Silleda, Lalín, A Estrada, Santiago de Compostela and O irixo. The base of the 6 Days will be in Silleda at the Semana Verde Fairgrounds. On the first day, the test will be held in Santiago, the second in A Estrada, the third in Silleda, the fourth in Lalín, the fifth in O Irixo, and finally, on the last day the motocross test will be held at the Semana Fairgrounds. Green in Silleda”.
Regarding sustainability, he stressed that there is an environmental plan prepared that highlights noise prevention and soil care, the extraction of invasive species, and the planting of trees to offset the carbon footprint.
For his part, the Sports Director of the RFME, Domenec Fernández, highlighted the economic impact that this type of competition will have in Galicia, “the impact it will have on the area will be very large, 3,000 people for 14 days plus the public that will come.”, and declared that “there is no longer accommodation, many people are looking in nearby towns.”
As he stressed, “This competition is the most important in the Enduro calendar and the especially due to the magnitude of the competition, so we did not doubt doing this event . We have been doing events for the Spanish championship here for several years and the guarantee of success was very important.” Likewise, he assured that “technicians have first visited the places where the tests will be carried out and how it will affect the environment has been evaluated with a development plan that supports it.”
Pedro Mariano, FIM 6DAYS Race Director and member of the FIM Enduro commission pointed out that the 6DAYS “is the largest and oldest competition, where riders from all continents come, so it will have a great economic impact,” “Galicia It is going to have a very big impact because there are many people who will come, we will all go on foot because we have to carry things manually, so the impact on the ground will be minimised.”
But in competitions like this he has highlighted that not only the motorcycles matter but also the environment, “from the FIM we have a sustainability plan since the 90s to minimise the impact that motorcycles can make in competitions”, and that “enduro is the motorcycling competition that cares most about the environment, the wheels are prepared to have minimal impact on the ground.” In addition, he indicated that since the 70s they have been doing sound tests to find out how they are affecting the motorcycles and try to improve in that aspect, “at the FIM we have been concerned about the environmental impact for more than 40 years and we do everything possible to ensure that enduro is sustainable.”
The General Secretary for sport of the Xunta de Galicia, José Ramón Lete, also attended the event. During his speech he announced that the record for federation licences has been broken and the number of high-level athletes, including riders, has tripled, reaching 1,500, and having surpassed it in the women’s licences, going from 9 in 2009 to 70 in 2024. He clarified that “Galicia contributes 10 Spanish teams and 30 Galician athletes”, and “Galician sport is at the top, 7 motorcycling competitions have been held in Galicia, thus demonstrating that great events like this can be held in Galicia.”
The presentation closed with an intervention by Luis López, President of the Pontevedra Deputation, who stressed that “this test is also important because of the international tourism that is going to arrive, who will then tell what they saw here in their country, thus helping expand local tourism.” He also pointed out that for the Deputation of Pontevedra, “sport is something strategic that we are trying to improve by giving visibility to women’s sports and all sports, especially sports that are not dedicated to a couple of modalities, being able to cover all sports. sports modalities like this one.”
Likewise, he explained that “what we want is for the sport to spread throughout the province, not to remain only in the big cities” since “the province of Pontevedra is the first to host an event like this.” Finally, he highlighted the Deputation’s commitment to the environment in this competition.
98th NOCO FIM 6DAYS®️, Spain 2024 – Galicia
The competition will take place in several municipalities in the Galician interior, with Silleda and its Semana Verde Fairgrounds being the nerve centre of this, where the paddock will be located. The opening ceremony will take place on site most “symbolic” of Galicia, the Plaza del Obradoiro, in Santiago de Compostela, with the Santiago Cathedral in the background. The tests of this edition will be carried out in the provinces of Pontevedra, A Coruña and Ourense, in the municipalities of Silleda, Lalín, A Estrada, O Irixo and Santiago de Compostela.
During the six days of competition around 3,000 people including riders and technical team along with thousands of spectators and media, which will mean a direct economic impact of more than 4.5 million euros. The strongest nations on the world enduro scene and the stars of the discipline will be present. Among the favourites: are the United States, Italy, Great Britain, France, Australia and, of course, Spain, which will “compete at home.” This great event will be broadcast on television to dozens of countries with accredited press from around the world and with multiple VIP options.
In Spain, until now, four editions had been held, the first in 1970, in El Escorial (Madrid); the second, fifteen years later, in 1985, in La Cerdanya (Girona); The next was in 2000, in Granada; and the fourth, in 2016, in Navarra. Eight years later, this competition returns to Spanish territory and, for the first time, arrives in Galicia, being the fifth edition held in this country.
This new edition, Spain 2024 – Galicia, will cover two relevant aspects: a very important generation of business in areas such as the tourist area and the launch of a sports model characterised by an ambitious sustainability plan. The centre of the competition will be at the Semana Verde Foundation Fairgrounds as it is the ideal space for a great variety and multitude of events, and where environmental and social sustainability will be, along with Enduro, the protagonists of the competition due to the large number of actions to be carried out.
Ambitious sustainability plan in sports practices
This edition will highlight the sustainability (economic, environmental and social) of this sports testing model. For this reason, the competition organisation has integrated technicians and environmental communicators into the organising team to participate in tasks such as defining routes, service areas and all areas where both the tests and the training areas will be carried out. training or the paddock, to ensure that the environmental impact minimisation parameters are met in line with the requirements of the FIM Environmental Code.
The organisation thus has professionals who will help ensure that the activities run exclusively on pre-existing tracks and circulation areas and that the event is held in places and times that do not significantly interfere with natural life, opting for dates without affecting animal reproduction periods. In this way, the objective is to minimise any impact on flora or fauna and, in the case of emissions, an auditable carbon footprint compensation programmes will be developed in the same areas. The test will also collaborate with a local NGO in the organisation of corporate environmental responsibility activities and invasive species control sessions (Acacia Mimosa and Cortaderia Selloana present in the competition area) and will have a “carbon footprint” evaluation for the subsequent development of a CO2 compensation programme emitted through reforestation in the municipalities in which it is held.
The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme has had a sustainability program since 1992, and since then work has been done to include environmental protection regulations in all FIM competitions.
Each event has a sustainability stewards who, together with the organisation, works as a team to develop a detailed environmental management plan. In addition, each test has a Technical Stewards who is responsible for measuring the sound level of each participating motorcycle with highly specialised equipment. Among the regulations is the use of environmental mats, mandatory in places where motorcycles and engines are worked on or refilled with fuel, ecopoints, etc. In the social area, the inclusion of women is predominant, both in the competition and in other areas of the event.
