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2007   > REVIEW   2006   > REVIEW   > ELBNO - SM   > RHAYADER   > BUILTH WELLS   > BAD GOISERN   > SELKIRK   > RUTHIN   2005   > REVIEW   > ELBNO - SM   > RHAYADER   > BUILTH WELLS   > BAD GOISERN   > SELKIRK   > RUTHIN   2004   > REVIEW   > RHAYADER   > BUILTH WELLS   > BAD GOISERN   > SELKIRK   > RUTHIN   2003   > REVIEW   > RHAYADER   > BUILTH WELLS   > RUTHIN   NEWS...   16.05.08 NEWS before the Ruthin Round HERE>>   25.04.08 Latest News from the first round.HERE>>   17.04.08 Report from the first round HERE>>   10.04.08 Latest News before the first event of 2008.HERE>>   29.03.08 Website updated - New Season is HERE>>   31.01.08 Online Entry now OPEN. MORE>>   28.12.07 Website updated - Entry facilities coming soon.   19.09.07 7 down, NONE to go….at least not this year. MORE>>   Foot-And-Mouth - Please clean your gear: MORE>>   04.09.07 Ruthin News. MORE>>   Merida on holiday 2008 – win a mountain bike trip in Austria MORE>>   12.08.07 6 down, ONLY 1 to go. MORE>>   20.07.07 Selkirk here we come MORE>>   12.07.07 4 down, 2 to go (3 including the Austria round) MORE>>   06.07.07 Latest Builth Wells Summer Marathon update MORE>>   27.06.07 Latest News... MORE>>   16.06.07 MERIDA OUTSIDER UPDATES WITH COURSE PROFILES. MORE>>   07.06.07 Latest News... MORE>>   17.05.07 …2 down 5 to go. After last year’s rather muddy May event in Rhayader the first dip into English marathon territory was another one to remember. MORE>>   08.05.07 It is only a few days now before the 1st ever English round MORE>>   01.05.07 It feels that the season is truly here MORE>>   17.04.07 ELBNO and SPRING MARATHON MORE>>   10.04.07 ELBNO / Spring Marathon – LAST UPDATE MORE>>   23.03.07 ELBNO . MORE>>   23.03.07 Chain Reaction Cycles voucher - make sure you enter early! MORE>>   23.03.07 Aviemore round – the Outsider. MORE>>   23.03.07 Penrith round – Cumbria Bikefest MORE>>   23.03.07 Salzkammergut Trophy 2007. MORE>>   13.03.07 The Outsider event and line-up ... MORE>>   22.02.07 Latest NEWS. MORE>>   19.12.06 NEWS 2007 Entry form available to download….... MORE>>   'CycleActive price draw - winner revealed!.... MORE>>   23.10.06 NEWS The Outsider - New Event….... MORE>>   The 2006 mountain bike season is heading towards its deserved winter break which inevitably means that the 2007 season is creeping up on us. .... MORE>>   26.09.06 We have just got back from our 2007 planning excursion to Scotland . .... MORE>>   14.09.06 NEWS Update: Merida Ruthin…only a couple of days to go….... MORE>>   25.08.06 Well done everybody who took part in the first ever Merida TransWales ’06. What a week! I am sure it will take us all a while to recover from this adventure. .... MORE>>   09.08.06 NEWS Update:Merida TransWales ’06…only a couple of days to go….... MORE>>   02.08.06 NEWS Four down one to go! We have just returned from the event in Selkirk and we can only agree with the all comments we have had that it has once again been a superb event for everybody.... MORE>>   26.07.06 NEWS Update: It’s the last week before the Scottish round of the Merida 100 MTB Marathon in Selkirk opens its doors.... MORE>>   11.07.06 NEWS Update:…was it hot or what? This year seams to be the year of extremes... MORE>>   22.06.06 NEWS Update: The last weekend before this year’s summer marathon in Builth Wells is upon us.... MORE>>   News update 15.06.06 Less than three weeks to go before we will welcome everybody at the ‘summer’ event of the Merida 100 Series... MORE>>   01.06.06 2nd Round Rhayader Event... MORE>>   1st Round of the Merida 100 MTB Marathon Series 2006 in Builth Wells 8-9th April... MORE>>   20 Reasons why you... should ride a Mreida 100 1 No faffing with maps: just point and play... MORE>>   Vertebrate Graphics, MTB Guidebooks...MORE>>   MTB-Marathon Jersey NOW IN STOCK..MORE>>	2004           Bad Goisern Merida 100 ‘On Holiday’ - and I thought riding in Wales is tough! 2004 was the first time the ‘100’ Mountain Bike Marathon Series went on holiday but it’s not going to be the last time. For last year’s Merida 100 Series an event in Bad Goisern, Austria had been added to the other four UK events and the interest and uptake on the trip away was better then expected. More than 90 riders decided to go to Austria to find out what marathon riding is like over there. The Salzkammergut Trophy (www.salzkammergut-trophy.at) and the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships were both held over the weekend of 10-11th July in Bad Goisern, making it the perfect place to gain some ‘international’ marathon experience. Bad Goisern is a small town roughly 40 miles from Salzburg, situated in the very popular holiday region of the Salzkammergut. It is normally a rather quiet little town but with more than 2,000 mountain bikers descending onto it, it suddenly turned into the Mountain Bike Marathon Mecca of Europe and where marathon riding is the order of the day the Merida 100 riders can’t be far away. Around 80 of the 90 travellers from the UK prepared themselves for the 47km, 101km or even the 203km routes which were held on the Saturday. In comparison to the courses of the Merida 100 rounds in the UK the course in Austria was probably less technical but with 1,829m of climbing in the 47km loop, 3,648m in the 101km, and 7,296m in the 203km course there was definitely a big challenge ahead of everybody taking part. Unfortunately the region had a fair amount of rain leading up to the event which soaked the ground sodden, leaving further rain nowhere to go but to sit on top of the already water logged ground. In typical British - but untypical Merida 100 - fashion the weather turned rather bad on Saturday when all the non-World Championship riders were making their way out into the mountains. We saw a rather extreme mixture of rain, sunshine and extreme cold – like you could expect in the mountains. The whole event was situated in the centre of town near the market square and the atmosphere before the start was already fantastic. Lots of locals and people from the region made their way to Bad Goisern to see of the start off the three distances. Saying that though, the start of the 203km race was scheduled for 5am in the morning and as you can imagine the spectator turnout was a little bit thin at that time of day. Later that morning the 47km and 101km course riders made their way out of town and started the first of the uncountable climbs of the day. Shortly afterwards the rain started to kick in once more, making some of the downhill sections unrideable. Luckily the course (especially where it was mega muddy – funny that!) was flanked by super encouraging spectators who made the ride so much more enjoyable and gave one the feeling of really doing something special. On top of that we saw lots of local residents along the course who decided to get their power-washers out and help the riders to get their bikes back into a more or less rideable condition. The feeding stations were a little bit of an unexpected but welcomed surprise with the selection of food and drink on offer. Pretty much everything from water, via energy drink, Red Bull all the way ‘up’ to beer was available, and this was suitably matched by bananas, energy bars, gingerbread and cheese/ham sandwiches. After quite a few hours of hard work up and down the mountains and plenty of mud which needed to be tackled, everybody made it back into the town tired but happy and with a t-shirt to prove that they managed to finish the course. We figured out over a beer in the evening that all the courses had almost double the climbing than any course in the UK. It was a great day and we can only suggest for anybody who has not made it over there yet to give it a go this year or simply book a few days in the Salkzkammergut region and ride your bike around the mountains... well worth a trip we reckon. But the weekend was obviously not over yet. Sunday still had the UCI World Championships to watch and for some to ride. The course would be pretty much the same as the 101km course of Saturday just with a little extra loop through the centre of Bad Ischl. Almost 10 Merida 100 riders set out to tackle this ultra demanding world championship course. The conditions had not really changed from Saturday so everybody knew what was coming their way. I managed to have a quick chat with Jürgen Kottula, rider of the Merida Multivan Team and winner of the Kona 100 in 2002. He expected the winners of the men’s race not to be below 5 hours but when Merida rider Gunn Rita Dahle came over the line to take the Marathon World Championship for the Merida team just after 5 hours and 28 minutes it became clear that the leading men would not take up to 5 hours to complete the gruelling course. Just a few minutes after Gunn Rita crossed the line the winning man, Massimo de Bertolis of Italy came through to take his first World Championship. All in all it was a great weekend out in Austria and we will be back. Probably with a little bit more time to explore the riding around Bad Goisern and Bad Ischl but we will be back for sure. For this year we have managed to put a package deal together again. Find more info on the Bad Goisern page MORE>>.   2004		Merida Bikes TransWales '08 The 7 day MTB stage challenge. Check the full story and the results on www.mtbtransuk.co.uk Join our Mailing List: Enter your email address:   Confirm your email address: Privacy Statement Request the 2008 season Merida Marathon Guide Book (available early Spring): Please Email us your FULL POSTAL ADDRESS and POSTCODE. CLICK HERE Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series will go abroad: Read MORE>>
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