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NEWS... |
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02.07.09 - Llanwrtyd Wells on the 4-5th July 2009 HERE>> |
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18.06.09 - LLanwrtyd Wells Event News: HERE>> |
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20.05.09 - Crickhowell Marathon report HERE>> |
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15.05.09 - Crickhowell Event News: HERE>> |
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30.04.09 - Only two more weeks before series heads to Crickhowell HERE>> |
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16.04.09 - Builth Wells Spring Marathon report: HERE>> |
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08.04.09 - Last update for the East Weekend Marathon HERE>> |
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06.04.09 - Just 1 week to go before the first event HERE>> |
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16.03.09 - 1st event less than 5 weeks away HERE>> |
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16.03.09 - 2009 MTB-Marathon guidebook out now - want a copy? HERE>> |
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16.03.09 - Huge investment in facilities for 2009 and beyond. HERE>> |
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29.01.09 - 2009 Events and Locations confirmed - ENTRY NOW OPEN HERE>> |
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2004 |
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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>>. |
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2004 |
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