{"id":389962,"date":"2026-01-04T00:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/389962\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T00:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:09:13","slug":"island-cup-reveals-2026-xc-and-enduro-calendars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/389962\/","title":{"rendered":"Island Cup reveals 2026 XC and enduro calendars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/islandcupseries.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Island Cup<\/a> is back for another big year of grassroots cross country and enduro racing in 2026. The Vancouver Island-based series will host six cross country races, seven enduro events and, new for 2026, an XC Marathon on the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n<p>With an ever-rotating cast of venues, both enduro and XC head to untapped trails this year. Port Alberni is a rapdily growing riding area on the island and will host events for the cross country and more gravity-fed racers.<\/p>\n<p>2026 Island Cup enduro series<\/p>\n<p>Island Cup\u2019s wildly popular enduro series gives riders seven opportunities to race in 2026, if you\u2019re quick on the registration button. That includes classic venues like Cumberland, Hornby Island, North Cowican and the technically challenging Sooke stop. Port Alberni makes its enduro debut, as well as the return of newer venues, Jordie Lunn bike park the greater Victoria area and the chairlft-fuelled freedom of Mount Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Enduro racing runs from April to mid-September this year, giving riders consistent opportunities to race all season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/island-cup-13.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/island-cup-13.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\"  \/><\/a>Logan Sadesky racing the Island Cup series in Victoria, B.C.<br \/>\nIsland Cup cross country<\/p>\n<p>The Vancouver Island series is always an early opportunity for Canadian racers to get between the tape while the rest of Canada might still be digging out from under snow. The series starts in Victoria with the Jordie Lunn weekend. This venue hosted Canadian XCO nationals in 2025 and will again in 2026. This Canada Cup weekend is an early opportunity for riders to get familiar with the course if they\u2019re planning on heading west later in the year.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/mtb\/2026-canada-cup-xc-and-dh-calendar-released\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Canada Cup XC and DH calendar released<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>From there, Island Cup XC heads over the hump to Port Alberni, back to the iconic Cumberland trails and then up to the easy speed of Campbell River. The only Sunshine Coast stop this season will be a non-series XC Marathon in Powell River in May. The series resumes with the most classic of classic venues, Hammerfest, before wrapping up back in Victoria in late June.<\/p>\n<p>Island Cup 2026 Calendar<br \/>\nCross Country<\/p>\n<p>Jordie Lunn \u2013 March 15<br \/>Port Alberni \u2013 April 5 [NEW]<br \/>Cumberland \u2013 April 12<br \/>Campbell River \u2013 April 26<br \/>Powell River XC Marathon (non-series) \u2013 May 3<br \/>Hammerfest \u2013 June 7<br \/>Victoria \u2013 June 21<\/p>\n<p>Enduro<\/p>\n<p>North Cowichan \u2013 April 16<br \/>Sooke \u2013 May 3<br \/>Port Alberni \u2013 May 31 [NEW]<br \/>Hornby \u2013 June 14<br \/>Jordie Lunn \u2013 July 12<br \/>Mount Washington \u2013 TBD<br \/>Cumberland \u2013 Sept. 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Island Cup is back for another big year of grassroots cross country and enduro racing in 2026.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[208859,64,63,784,208860,208861,117138,85,208862],"class_list":{"0":"post-389962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-2026-island-cup","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-island-cup","13":"tag-jordie-lunn-bike-park","14":"tag-mtb-news","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-vancouver-island"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}