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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>>
 


















  2005
       
  Selkirk Event Review

The best mountain bike course in the country, ever, ever, ever. Period.
Selkirk returned to the Merida 100s after its critically acclaimed debut in 2004 that has since gone down as one of the best MTB-Marathon’s ever held. What Mountain Bike described it as “one of those ‘races’ that, one day, people will recall and say, ‘I was there.’” Its encore in 2005 only helped to further reinforce these initial impressions as the bar was raised even higher.

Moving north of the border saw the event village swell to its biggest yet with the addition of Fine-ADC showing off their Ergon grips and Casco lids, Crank Brothers, Manitou, Minx-Girl, Ten Rapid, and the Art of Storage all supporting what was anticipated to be the Merida 100 of the year. The changeable preceding days weather had failed to dent either the all-weather course or the riders’ enthusiasm for the big push. Him upstairs rewarded this optimism on the Sunday with the dawning of perfect riding conditions and a fast drying course.

Pete Laing, the Merida 100s man on the ground in Selkirk and renowned trail builder, had again put together a beast of a course that tested both nerve and sinew, mental resolve and the body’s capacity of each of the 1,050 riders for pumping out litres of endorphin. Taking in an absolutely gargantuan amount of climbing along its 55 or 85km lengths, the courses blended the best of the world-class man made trails at Innerleithen with the natural forest and moorland trails. With leg breaking, soul-sapping climbs followed by transcendental singletrack descents that swooped ever downwards for an immediate adrenaline payback, Selkirk underlined its status as a truly tough and testing but hugely rewarding course. “It was absolutely brilliant,” agreed Kevin Jackson when the heat finally cooled, “I even felt the G-forces on the downhill course section!”

“I suppose I took a bit of a risk with the 2004 event,” said Pete of Selkirk’s debut, “because previous mountain bike marathons in Britain tended to feature less technical singletrack and more rolling doubletrack. The mad reaction we got that year proved that, as well as taking on the challenge of an 85km route, most riders are well capable of tackling and enjoying black grade singletrack. I had no reason to make any big changes for 2005 because I was pretty sure everyone would be keen to ride the same trails again.”

The course itself was a challenge enough but, for one rider, that was compounded by their own heroic battle of recovery from illness: “I personally managed a time over an hour better than last year,” explained Richard Salisbury, “and will be back next year to improve on it further: Not bad for a lad in remission, eh?!” The first rider back from the long course did it in just three and a quarter hours while other riders managed to get the maximum bang for their buck with eight hours to savour the trails: “I managed to complete my challenge of the full long route even though I was last equal to complete over the line,” said Stephen J Penny. “Well, it was never a race – just a challenge to be completed!”

“Five years ago,” Pete explained, “the Tweed Valley [of which Glentress and Innerleithen are part] had a big network of old enduro tracks, some fairly dull forest road circuits and a XC race course in Yair Forest that myself and some mates built in the early ‘90s. Now we have the busiest mountain bike centre in Britain, miles of top XC and downhill trails and a bunch of national awards to show for our efforts. It’s astonishing how quickly the scene has changed and really satisfying for all the people involved, from Forestry managers and trail builders to mountain bike café owners! Seeing 1,000 mountain bikers from all over, having a blast on our trails is superb.”

But it’s not over yet: Selkirk is set to grow and grow. For 2006, with the addition of four distances across the series, Selkirk looks set to outshine almost everything else as the future for mountain bike marathon events here in the UK, right here and right now. So turn to page 33 to find out what’s in store this year.
  2005

competition image


Merida Bikes TransWales '08
The 7 day MTB stage challenge.
Check the full story and the results on www.mtbtransuk.co.uk

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