In the first substantial update to their website in quite some time, DerbyWheel organisers have indicated that they are considering moving their proposed exhibition event from the UK to Korea, with an increase in the number of invited riders.

The website’s Calendar page was updated today (16 July), adding a proposed date for the test event of ‘late 2026 (TBA)’, with the start of regular racing pushed back from ‘in 2026’ to ‘from 2027’. Given the lack of communicated progress in recent months, that was surely inevitable.

But the most intriguing aspect is the new mention of potentially holding the test event in South Korea, rather than the UK – and the increase in the number of invited riders, from 56 to 70.

Proposals for a test event date back as far as 2023: but with each change of date, the choice of the United Kingdom to host the event never wavered.

The earliest communicated date was for London in the summer of 2023; Manchester was mentioned as a possible location for an event in February 2024. Newport has remained the consistently named destination over the last couple of years.

So the sudden addition of a possible Korean venue into the mix is unexpected – and curious.

Yangyang is a town on the east coast of South Korea, about 70km south of the country’s northern border, best known for surfing.

Its outdoor 333m track, located right next to the town’s modest international airport, hosts Korea’s national track championships each year – plus the annual Korean Track Cup C2, which took place just last week. The keirin events were won by Haeun Kim and Woorim Choi: the fields consisted mainly of Korean riders, with a few visitors from Hong Kong, Thailand, Macao and India.

A venue closer to the operation’s head office in Seoul might make logistics easier to manage, especially after the loss of its UK-resident CEO.