Marathon riding - what's it all about?

As the MTB Marathon Series is goings into her ninth season it is fairly likely that some of have heard the story of how this all started once or twice before. I believe it was at some point in the summer of 1999 when John and I were chatting at one of the National Point Series events about events. The question came up if we could run a marathon type mountain bike event which were already the main kind of the event in main land Europe. And with his ‘lets do it and think about the potential problems later’ attitude he say ‘Yes. Let’s do it’. Less than a year later and after lots of more thinking about the details and the potential problems we gathered more than 800 riders at the Royal Welsh showground and run the first marathon over the hills surrounding Johns hometown Builth Wells. From there is snowballed into a series of now five events covering (almost) the whole country.

And now here we are in 2008 and hopefully with a few new ideas the cycling community out there is going to enjoy taking part in. For the new series we have added the road sportives to our event lineup. Rather than having ‘only’ the marathons going on on the Sunday of the event weekend we will have a Saturday run road sportive at four of the five locations. This will turn our events even more into a cycling festival which hopefully has something to offer for everyone and will offer even more reasons to make a proper weekend of it with your family and friends. 

Anyway now onto what is going to happen in 2008 and how it is going to happen.

First of all the HOW:
The Merida Bikes MTB Marathons are non competitive events with no winner and no looser. All rounds have mass starts with all course lengths starting at the same time behind a pace car. We have been trying, and will continue doing so to sort out potential bottle neck problems at the beginning of the rides but as the tracks and trails we can use are limited that might not be 100% possible all the time. Every rider has to register either on the Saturday or the Sunday morning where you get the detailed briefing for the ride, various vouchers and your number board. The number board has to be fixed on the handlebars and has to be clearly readable when passing checkpoints and the finish line. The start of the rides is on the Sunday morning where a final verbal briefing will be held. As the ride goes over public roads every rider has to obey the Highway Code at all time – this is extremely important as you might ride towards a Landrover or tractor even on remote off-road sections.  

The courses are fully marked so that no map, compass or navigation skills are required. Around the course our energy food sponsor High5 will be present with energy drinks, bars, and gels as well as with bananas and water. Alongside the energy backup, the Merida mechanics will be out there to help everybody with any technical problems. The feeding stations are normally between 20-30km apart but should not be understood as the sole source of food and drink. Check out the 16 Commandments and the FAQ section for some useful information regarding eating, drinking and the general running of the events.

We have four different courses at each event to choose from. The Mini Marathon which with its approximately 25km course, is specifically set out for families and beginners, a short course that is approximately 50km long, a medium course that is approximately 75km long and a long course that is normally around 100km long. With a selection of distances at five different events you will find the perfect setup to progress from the Mini or the short course all the way to the long course in one year. A tough job but possible!

Camping and parking facilities are available at all UK events and are included in the entry fee, so if you fancy making a proper weekend out of it come along on Friday and stay all the way to Monday morning. Facilities like showers and toilets are going to be available over the whole weekend.

New for the 2008 series are the GORE BIKEWEAR Road Sportives:
The big news for 2008 is the introduction of road sportive events at four of the five marathon events. The GORE BIKEWEAR Road Sportive follow pretty much the same format as the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon – only (but rather significant) difference is they are run on the road and majority of the rides use road bikes. For years this kind of riding is enjoying huge popularity in the UK and in the rest of Europe with some of the biggest UK riders getting more than 2000 riders on the line. Our take is going to slightly different in the way that we will apply the same quality driven concept which we are using in the MTB marathon on the road – great courses, friendly and helpful event staff, well marshalled and fully marked, well stocked service stations, full camping and event facilities with lots of showers and toilets, post event food, spot prizes and lots more.

We have two (sometimes three – please check website for details) different courses at each of the four locations: the approximately 100mile long ‘classis sportive’ and the approximately 50mile long ‘standard sportive’ With a selection of 2-3 distances at four different events you will find the perfect step up to progress from the ‘standard sportive’ via (when available) middle distance to the full ‘classic sportive’ in one year. A tough job but possible!

Once you’ve managed to complete your ride and come over the finish line make sure you don’t just race past the commentator and the timing crew as you would miss out on your unique finisher present and on your chances of getting one of the many spot prizes that we will give away again.  As always we will have bike cleaning facilities near the finish line where you can clean your bike for your next outing or simply your drive home.

Same as for the Merida Bikes MTB Marathons camping and parking facilities are available at all the events and are included in the entry fee. Maybe you would enjoy to make a full weekend out of it – stay over on Saturday night and enjoy the event atmosphere on Sunday and maybe even join the marathon the next morning in case you did not get enough on your road sportive. The camp ground and the facilities are open from Friday evening till Monday morning.


Now the WHERE:
The 2008 Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series is going back to the same locations as in the year before, three events will be held in Wales and two events will take place in Scotland and one event in Cumbria, England. Last year saw the 1st ‘inclusion’ of the marathons into two festivals. The Cumbria Bikefest in Penrith and the Outsider festival in Aviemore. Both events were great successes and finally turned the series into a true national series. The Cumbria Bike Fest will take a break in 2008 but the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon will go back to Penrith to run the 2nd English marathons in its history. As it looks the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series will not be returning to Aviemore in 2008 but we are looking into bring the Aviemore location back in 2009. In 2008 we will keep in the entry procedure as soon as possible without offering the same great weekend as lots of riders and festival lovers enjoyed in 2007. On top of that there is once more the ‘Merida Bikes MTB Marathon on Holiday’ round in Bad Goisern, Austria which is going to be part of the series for the 5th year in a row.

Another event that will spice up the ‘normality’ of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathons is the (as far as we aware) only night marathon – the EXPOSURE LIGHTS BIG NIGHT OUT. For the last three years the ELBNO has launched the new season and will do so once more in 2008. The night marathon as the name suggest follows the same concept as the ‘normal’ marathon while being simply run at night. Around 300 riders have been taken up this unique challenge each year and enjoyed the fascination that is night riding. 
The ELBNO is followed by the ‘Spring Marathon’ on the following day which allows lots the hard core riders out there to have two rides in one weekend.

As always one final word of warning after this brief introduction to mountain bike marathon riding: our events are not for enthusiasts only. The shorter courses are put together with novice riders in mind with the difficulty of terrain increasing with the length of course. If you feel that you could do with some extra technical riding tips join one of the CycleActive classes on the Saturday and try to put your newly learned skills into practice the following day. We would like to ask everybody to ride within their technical abilities and not putting themselves or others at risk.

From the fitness point of view we believe that everybody can do it who goes out in the months leading up to event and rides his or her bike, and possibly even follows the training planner. If you are worried that your fitness is not sufficient, start off with the short course and work your way up to the long one over the next couple of events. Once out on course you can always reduce the course length. For the young riders and absolute beginnings who want to tackle the Mini Marathon the guys from CycleActive always have a riding instructor out on course who could help with any other problems you might have.

So I guess this should have given everybody a brief overview of what the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series and the GORE BIKEWEAR Road Sportive Series 2008 is all about.

Michael Wilkens
Co-Organiser of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series

If you have any questions you can get hold of us via email info@mtb-marathon.co.uk or you can ring John Lloyd on 01982 552923.