Mid South Gravel Race Cancelled Due to Wildfires
The Mid South Gravel event has been cancelled, just hours before riders were scheduled to depart, due to wildfires and high winds batter Oklahoma.
In a statement posted to Instagram cancelling the event, organizers said, “We have been in constant communication with all city and county emergency services and we are announcing that Mid South 2025 is officially canceled. All efforts, support, and energy are being sent to fight this wildfire tragedy in our home that we love so much.”
Conditions deteriorated throughout the day on Friday as a storm, packing winds gusting over 60 MPH, began rolling through Oklahoma. The expo was closed early due to high winds. After fires began burning, organizers were forced to evacuate athletes still on course during the afternoon’s running event. Authorities then began evacuating entire neighborhoods near Stillwater as fires continued to spread in the area; our own Eric Wynn, on site for coverage this weekend, was among the evacuees (and the source of these photos).
There were over 100 fires that broke out in the state on Friday, with more than 20 active large wildfires currently burning across Oklahoma, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Three people across the region died in collisions while evacuating the fires.
Winds are expected to diminish throughout the morning today as the storm moves through the southeastern United States.
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Sounds like the right call, between community safety and need for first responders, as well as air quality.
Interested gravel season so far, with the snow up at Trail of Tears and now this.
Totally the right call.
Very much the right call. It can be extremely dangerous being out on those roads with limited site due to smoke, especially on foot or on a bike. My second cousin was killed one year when they were burning pastures in the Kansas Flint Hills (Unbound roads). He was on a four wheeler working the burn and someone in a truck didn’t see him due to the smoke.
We interviewed the race director on the Gravel Family Podcast.