News


16.09.09
It’s only a few days now before the final round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathons and the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Sportive Series 2009 opens its doors at the Ruthin Rugby Club (19-20th September 2009). As at the last two events we will have again two headliners over the weekend. Saturday will see the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road Sportive and Sunday the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon.

Entries for both events:
First of all there are still entries for both events and for all distances available. As this event is also fairly far away from home for us please note that we will only be able to receive postal entry forms until Thursday the 17th September. Every entry form arriving at our offices after that cannot be considered for the Ruthin round. So that still leaves a couple of days for postal entries. The online entry is still open and is rather busy. You can enter via the online facilities for the MTB Marathons and for the GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportives up to Friday lunch time. Please don’t use the online entry after that as it will be impossible for us to incorporate the entries into the signing on lists. If you don’t know if you can make it or not there is also the chance to enter on the day but please be aware of the £ 5 surcharge for day entries. Don’t forget though that there is a special weekend ticket which includes the sportive and the marathon for a reduced price of £ 45.

Final round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road Sportive Series ‘09:
Two challenging sportive courses are up for grabs including some of the most iconic riding spots (Horseshoe Pass) in Wales. Both routes head out of historic Ruthin along the pastoral Vale of Clwyd towards the coast. The climbing starts as the route goes through the centre of Denbigh past its 13th century castle. Moving up onto the mooreland above the town the route cuts back to pass Lyn Brenig, famous locally for its fishing and watersports. Next stop Cerrigydrudion where the two routes part company. The forty five milers heading back to Ruthin through Clawdd- Newydd. The eighty mile route carries on to Bala and its famous lake. Back to Corwen through the town centre and over the river before taking the scenic backroads towards Llangollen. Now comes the final challenge, the Horseshoe Pass. Chris Boardman still holds the record for the ascent here. Topping the final miles take in a descent of the Nant y Garth Pass before the return to Ruthin.

You can find further details on the Ruthin round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road Sportive Series on the events page here: www.gorebikewearsportives.com/ruthin.php. If you haven’t entered the Ruthin round yet make sure you get your entry through to us by going onto the sportive entry page. You can either download an entry form and send that to us by post or enter via the online entry system.

Final round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series ’09:
The last round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series will take place the day after the road sportive and will have 4 different courses (approx. 30, 55, 73 and 92km) on offer. The Ruthin round has been traditionally the final round of the series and after last year’s move to the earlier May date has moved back to its September date. The four routes will once more incorporate some of the best trails you can find around the ‘trail spoiled’ area around Ruthin as well as the generous offerings of the near by Clwydian Range.

To find out more about the upcoming round in Ruthin round (19-20th September 2009) please go to the event Ruthin pages on our website or if you haven’t entered yet go directly to the entry page to secure your entry.

Course and weather
As always John has moved the whole event from Builth Wells to the Rugby Club in Ruthin and has been busy working on the course. He has been out there for the last couple of days making last minute adjustments and being busy with putting the way markers up. The courses are in great condition – super fast and bone dry. The weather forecast for the weekend is looking very good for the sportive on Saturday and the MTB marathon on Sunday.

Events starting times / timetable
As mentioned before we will have to main events on over the weekend starting with the open start of the sportive from 8am on Saturday morning onwards. The registration will be open on Friday evening for a couple of hours before opening at 6am on Saturday. The start for the sportive is open from 8 – 9am.

Sunday morning will see the ‘traditional’ start of the off road marathon at the slightly earlier time of 9.30am. Riders can register for the event throughout Saturday or on Sunday morning from 7 – 9am.

Directions / event location
The event village, the camping and the start/finish of the sportive as well as the MTB marathon is based at the Rugby Club in Ruthin. (click here for a map of the location). The event will be signposted from Friday lunchtime onwards. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from as you will easily find your way to the event village. The event will be open from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. For the GPS users out there the postcode is LL15 2AA. If you are still looking for a B+B or a Hotel please find the details for the local Tourist Information on our Local Info page.

Borrow, Test, Return – Some GORE BIKE WEAR™ for free
GORE BIKE WEAR™ are joining once more the final round of the 2009 series to run their ‘Try B4 U Buy’ scheme in which you can test ride their products when you ride the event. Go along to the GORE BIKE WEAR™ tent and experience for yourself what the real difference is!

A sample of our latest and award winning products for men and women will be available to try, with a range of technologies from GORE-TEX® and WINDSTOPPER® jackets right through to baggies and summer jerseys. All they ask is you treat them as your own for the day! Take them, ride them and return them. Bring them back to the Gore tent dirty, sweaty, ridden and rated and then leave the washing to them!

CycleActive Skills Arena
The team from CycleActive will be once more on site offering their fantastic skills courses which will help you to polish off your technical riding skills. If you want to make use of the FOC offer at the 1st round of the series please make sure that you book yourself in in advance as places are limited. To book a space on a skills ride email them at admin@cycleactive.co.uk. To find out more about CycleActive visit them at www.cycleactive.co.uk


07.08.09
2 down, ONLY 1 to go. The GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive 2009 is slowly coming to an end but the events are still going from strength to strength. More than 1000 riders made their way to our sun drenched Selkirk event joining either the GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive or the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon. After last years rather wet conditions the 2009 Selkirk round enjoyed more or less dry conditions throughout the weekend giving the Selkirk event a real feeling of summer riding.

GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive
As at the last event – Saturday was all about riding on skinny tires. More than 250 road enthusiasts turned up to enjoy the fantastic roads around the greater Selkirk area. And this time there were not two but three distances on offer. The route took the riders through the Tweed, Yarrow and Ettrick valleys starting with a long yet gentle climb following the Tweed River upstream. But it wasn’t all easy going. Our course designer Pete Laing had some ‘proper’ climbs up his sleeve to turn what appeared to be a gentle stroll into a real challenge. Each route made the most of the network of narrow hill roads linking the river valleys that the Scottish Borders is so famous for. The climb tot-up for each distance is… 47 mile: 4 climbs, 95 mile: 8 climbs, 120 mile: 10 climbs. None of the climbs are Alpine in scale but only one is less than 100m vertical and if you check the course profiles, there isn’t a flat road in between, so the ascent total soon builds up. The 120 mile route especially was a bit of a beast with 3600m of ascent. After 2hour and 25minutes the first 47 mile rider came into the event village while the last 120 mile rider made the most of the day and took 8 hour and 59 minutes to complete the course.

The next and last 2009 round of the Road Sportive Challenges will take place in Ruthin on the 19th September and will feature two excellent courses including the infamous Horse Shoe Pass. To find out more please go to www.gorebikewearsportives.com/ruthin.php.

To enter the event please go to www.gorebikewearsportives.com/entry.php and either enter via the online entry or via the downloadable entry form.

For the next round our friends from Road.CC will do a detailed recce ride with video and images which they will put on their website www.road.cc. To get an idea of what they will be doing why not check out the report they put together on the 1st round in Llanwrtyd Wells: (http://road.cc/content/news/5062-live-tracking-gore-bike-recce-ride) to check out the 'live tracking story' and here (http://road.cc/content/news/5119-video-gore-sportive-recce) for the 'recce video'.

Merida Bikes MTB Marathon
After the road event came to an end on Saturday afternoon the mountain bikers started to descend onto the event village in Selkirk. More than 900 riders lined up being told by the promising weather forecast that a sunny day would lie ahead. And for once the weather forecast did not disappoint. Following feedback from the last couple of years course designer Pete Laing changed a few of the key sections as well as adding some more fantastic singletrack to the menu. The T-shirt crew at the Rugby Club were greeted with a sheer endless line of big smiles and grins on people’s faces telling us that Pete had once more done a great job. Even with the mixed weather prior to the event the course was in almost perfect condition. The sunshine and the perfect finish line setup encouraged lots of people to stay for a while and to enjoy a cold drink while watching the riders come over the line. The first rider on the Mini Marathon made it over the line in just under 2 hours while the last rider on the 88km long full marathon took 8hours and 41min to complete the challenging course.

The final round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2009 will join the GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive once more and head to Ruthin for the 19-20th September. For further details of the last marathon of the 2009 series please head to: www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/ruthin.php or go directly to the entry page to secure your entry. Entries for the MTB marathon and the Sportive are still available.

Photos and website updates
Our event photographer Jon Brooke and his colleague Lauris Naglins were again on site as well as on course taking pictures of pretty much everybody. So just go onto Jon’s website to find your photos there to view or buy. We have also made some further updates to the www.mtb-marathon.co.uk site so keep an eye on the news in the top left hand corner.


21.07.09Only two weeks to go before we once again return to Selkirk in the Scottish borders for the Scottish round of the 2009 GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive series and the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon series.

GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive on the 1st August
The Selkirk round will have once more a great ride for all the sportive fans out there up its sleeve. Peter Laing has put not two but three courses together. The riders can choose between the 47mile (approx. 1,600m of climbing) standard sportive, the 95mile (approx. 2,700m of climbing) or the Selkirk specific 120mile long (3,600m of climbing) extreme sportive.

Each route makes the most of the network of narrow hill roads linking the river valleys that the Scottish Borders is so famous for. The climb tot-up for each distance is… 47 mile: 4 climbs, 95 mile: 8 climbs, 120 mile: 10 climbs. None of the climbs are Alpine in scale but only one is less than 100m vertical and if you check the course profiles, there isn’t a flat road in between, so the ascent total soon builds up. The 120 mile route especially is a bit of a beast with 3600m of ascent.

The Selkirk round of the Road Sportive Challenges 2009 will take place on Saturday the 1st August. We have added the route map (just to give you an idea on the course) and the profiles to the website. Please check www.gorebikewearsportives.com/selkirk.php for details.

To find out more about the details of the Road Sportive Challenges 2009 please go to the Gore Sportive page on our website or go directly to the entry page to enter the mountain bike and/or road sportive events.

Entries still available – enter now
There are still places left for the Selkirk marathon and the road sportive in case you haven’t entered yet. So if you are looking for a technical yet super enjoyable marathon in the beautiful Scottish countryside or a challenging road sportive in the Scottish borders then make sure you get your entry in quickly. To enter go directly to the entry page (for the mountain bike event) and www.gorebikewearsportives.com/entry.php (for the sportive) to secure your entry for these great events. You will be able to enter on the day subject to a £5 surcharge.

Special offer from our retail partner – the Bike Chain
www.thebikechain.co.uk - your new online local bike shop has some pretty impressive special offers on this summer, check out the new Crank Brothers Candy X pedals and the range of Gore clothing on offer, use the voucher code ‘MERSEL’ for even bigger discounts at the checkout!

Event setup – extra camping
The event is once more based at the Selkirk Rugby Club where the start finish, the event village and majority of the camping will be. Depending on the amount of campers we will have at the event we might be forced to also use an overflow campground which is located a few hundred yards away from the start and finish line.

Borrow, Test, Return – Some GORE BIKE WEAR™ for free
As the official clothing sponsor of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series for the third consecutive year GORE BIKE WEAR™ is giving you the chance to test out some of their gear for free. GORE BIKE WEAR™ and its retail partner WHEELBASE will lend you a jacket, shirt, vest or gilet to test and give the once or twice over during your ride. GORE BIKE WEAR™ products are made from highly durable technical fabrics such as GORE-TEX® and WINSTOPPER® products and designed to enhance your cycling experience whilst allowing you to focus on the adventure ahead of you.

If you aren’t sure what to test out ask the on-site technical team for advice. You simply hand back what you’ve tested at the end of your ride (they will even wash it for you!) and if you like what you’ve tried you can purchase a new one from WHEELBASE in the event retail village. Take a look at the new stock for this season on www.gorebikewear.co.uk.



Almost 1,000 rider made their way to Llanwrtyd Wells (the smallest town in Britain) to take part in one of the many rides on offer. The Llanwrtyd Wells event was the first road and off road event in the season and a great start to the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive series.

After 10 years of running the main summer event in Builth Wells this year saw the move to Llanwrtyd Wells which you could say is the spiritual home of the marathon events as John Lloyd organiser and course designer of the sportive and MTB marathons started his cycling career in Llanwrtyd Wells as well as being the unofficial birthplace of British mountain biking almost 25 years ago.



1st round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive
4th July 2009:
More than 100 sportive enthusiasts took up the two challenging routes on offer. The standard sportive with a length of 50 miles and 1,600m of climbing as well as the 90 mile long classic sportive (with 2,600meters of climbing) were challenging the riders with climbs like the devils staircase and the sugar loaf while offering amazing scenery throughout the day.

After 2hour and 55minutes the first 50 mile rider came into the event village while the last 90 mile rider made the most of the nice day and took 7 hour and 10 minutes to complete the course. Find out how Dave Atkinson from Road.CC got on here.

The next round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive Series will take place in Selkirk (Scotland) on the 1st August and will feature the 130mile long extreme route on top of the standard and classic route. To find out more please click here. To enter the events please click here and either enter via the online entry or via the downloadable entry form.

After Selkirk the series will return to North Wales for the final round of 2009 in Ruthin on the 19th September.

3rd round of the Merida Bikes MTB Powered by MBUK Marathon Series Llanwrtyd Wells 5th July 2009:
This year John finally managed to take the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon series to the unofficial birthplace of mountain biking Llanwrtyd Wells and going by the feedback managed to impress the majority of riders with the fantastic riding of the area. The weather yet again did not really play ball and the heavy rain on Saturday night turned the up to that point bone dry trails rather muddy in places. However all 4 courses held up well and offered lots of variety and fun sections for the riders to enjoy.

The 10am start on Sunday morning was as always a mass start affair and was blessed with warm sunshine. After a short paced sections the riders pulled away from the road and entered the sheer endless network of single and double tracks which can be found around Llanwrtyd Wells. The 1st rider on the 25km long mini marathon came over the line in a super fast 1hour 38minutes while the last riders on the full (80km) marathon made it back into the event village at 7.02pm after 9 hours and 2 minutes on the trails.

With the 3rd event now being ‘done and dusted’ our attention goes towards the Scottish round in Selkirk which has been one of the favourites since its introduction year. So if you enjoyed the series so far makes sure you make your way to Selkirk. For further details on the Selkirk round. To enter the event please click here and either enter via the online entry or via the downloadable entry form.

Photos and website updates:
Our event photographer Jon Brooke and his colleague Lauris Naglins were again on site as well as on course taking pictures of pretty much everybody. So just go onto Jon’s website and you can find your photos there to view or buy. We have also made some further updates to the www.mtb-marathon.co.uk site so keep an eye on the news in the top left hand corner.

02.07.09Only a couple of days now before the 1st round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive will kick off at the Show Fields in Llanwrtyd Wells on the 4-5th July 2009 - hope you can make it.

GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive – 4th July:
The opening round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive Series is starting out with two fantastic courses which our media partner Road.CC went to check out what the riding around Llanwrtyd Wells is all about. Dave Atkinson from Road.CC joined forces with course designer and local riding legend John Lloyd to recce the 1st round of the GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive and has put his finding including a video and some great photos up on their site. Click here to check out the 'live tracking story' and here for the 'recce video'.

Check them out as they give you a great idea what the course of the first round of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive will be like. Fur further details on the 1st round go to: www.gorebikewearsportives.com/llanwrtyd_wells.php.

Can I still get in? There are still lots of places available for the two Llanwrtyd Wells sportive as well as the other remaining rounds of the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road sportive series. You can still send your entry forms in but please make sure that they arrive at our registration office no later than Friday. Alternatively you can enter via the online entry up to Friday lunchtime. You can find our entry facilities on the entry page.

If you can’t make up your mind then you can also enter on the day. But please be aware that we have a £5 day entry surcharge. So why not enter today – save yourself some money and the hassle! Don’t forget that if you interested in entering both events over the weekend that there is a £ 10 discount to be had.

Where, when, what? The registration will open at 6pm on Friday and will stay open till around 8pm. The registration will open on Saturday morning at 6am and will stay open till after the start of the sportive. The GORE BIKEWEAR Road Sportive will start 8am onwards on and will stay open till approx. 9am.

The event is located at the Show Fields which is only a few hundred meters away from the centre of LLanwrtyd Wells which makes going out for a post or pre event drink a doddle as well as finding the new location very straight forward. Simply head into Llanwrtyd Wells and follow the markers. If you need a postcode for your GPS please put in LD5 4RB and follow the markers.

Wimbledon on TV For all the sports and in particular tennis enthusiasts out there be assured that we will have the tennis on our big TV in the marquee so that you can follow the action from Wimbledon throughout the weekend.


18.06.09 The GORE BIKE WEAR™ Llanwrtyd Wells 4th July 2009
Only a little more than two weeks now before the GORE BIKE WEAR Road sportive will descend onto the smallest town in Britain - Llanwrtyd Wells. The birthplace of lots of high profile cycling events LLanwrtyd Wells (only 10 minutes from Builth Wells) will be hosting the opening round of the sportive series.

The summer is finally here and has shown everything you would expect from a UK summer so far but it has hopefully given everyone the chance to ride their bike (road or off road) as often as they wanted.

Road Sportive Challenges 2009 – Llanwrtyd Wells 4th July 2009
The first round of the Road Sportive Challenges offers two different courses (50mile or 90mile) and expects the riders to climb 1600m or 2600m over the chosen distance. Both routes start from the Show Field, Llanwrtyd Wells and will split immediately on leaving the venue. The 50 mile route heads west through Llanwrtyd Wells towards Abergwesyn. The 90 mile route heads east, gently descending towards Llangammarch Wells, then along undulating B roads through Garth and Beulah and then west to rejoin the shorter route in Abergwesyn.

Both routes then turn towards Tregaron, eventually reaching the Devils Staircase, one mile long and very steep, this has been on route for both the Milk Race and the Kelloggs Road Race.

After the staircase you drop steeply, only to face another climb almost as steep and a bit longer. On descending from this second climb you will turn south down the Tywi Valley towards Llandovery, reaching the first feed-station and checkpoint at 33 miles for the longer course and 25 miles for the shorter course. Take your time and enjoy the view as this viewpoint overlooks the Llynbrianne Reservoir, one of the most beautiful valleys in Wales. The road continues through Rhandirmywn passing The Royal Oak Public House.

On reaching Llandovery the shorter route turns east and climbs over the Sugar loaf and then descends back to Llanwrtyd Wells. While the longer route follows the main road for a few miles before turning onto B roads towards Brecon. The second feed station is near the village of Cradoc, at approximately 67 miles. Just past Cradoc the route turns left towards Upper Chapel and then left again over the Eppynt Military Range, descending to Llangammarch Wells and continues back through Cefngorwydd to Llanwrtyd Wells.

Statistics – short course (standard sportive):
Length: approx: 50 mile
Climbing: approx. 1,600 meters

Statistics – long course (classic sportive):
Length: approx: 90 mile
Climbing: approx. 2,600 meters

For more details on the 1st round of the Road Sportive Challenges 2009 including profiles and course details please go to the event page. To enter the sportives please go to the entry page.

Enter now!
Entries for the sportive (and the mountain bike marathon) are still available. To secure an entry for the GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive please go to entry page and either download an entry form or enter via the online entry. There will be day entry for both available but please note that there is a £ 5 day entry surcharge – so make sure you enter in advance to save yourself some money!

Weekend ticket
Don’t forget that if you interested in entering both events over the weekend that there is a £ 10 discount.

Other series dates/locations
2nd round – 1st August 2009 in Selkirk, Scotland (featuring the ‘extreme’ loop)
3rd round – 19th September 2009 in Ruthin, Wales

Services and support on site:
MTBWorks will be on site to help the riders to get ready for their ride as well as offer post ride support. The guys from are offering a complete package of pre- and post event physical therapy for optimal performance. So if you are in need for some sounds advice and want to make sure you get your well deserved rub down after the event best to drop the guys a line on mtbworks@gmail.com or visit www.mtbworks.com to book your personal session in.  

20.03.09
The GORE BIKE WEAR™ Road Sportive Series are pleased to announce that we are teaming up with the road.cc, the website for pedal powered people as our official media partner for the 2009 series.

road.cc will be bringing you all the latest news about what's happening at the various rounds of the series, plus the will be doing recce rides and posting them on their site they will also be passing on pre-ride training tips and bike fettling advice.

Commenting on the announcement, road.cc editor Tony Farrelly said: “The really great thing from our point of view is that it means we'll have to leave the office and recce some big rides and then a few weeks later leave the office and do it all again on a summer's day in some of the most beautiful parts of the country and hopefully we'll get to meet lots of road.cc users too.”

We'll be at the three rounds of the series too: at Lllanwyrtyd Wells on 4 July (keeping everybody posted with Tour de France updates); then it's up to Selkirk on 1 August for the second round; followed by Ruthin in Wales on 19 September for round 3.

Entry is now open. To enter online or download an entry form head over to our entry page. The site has all the event and location details, lots of tips and advice, course distributions and course maps as well as downloadable entry forms and online entry.

All three rounds of the series offer the choice of 80-100 mile Classic routes, or 40-50 mile Standard ones. The Scottish ride also has a 120 mile Extreme route option.

Each round is a one loop ride with the start and finish as the event village. As it's the weekend the organisers are making the start as hassle free as possible. The start will open at 8am on Saturday and will stay open for approximately 1 hour to give everybody the chance to have a relaxing getaway at the time of their choosing.

Each ride costs £25 to enter and that covers:
• Ride entry – 40/ 50 mile ‘Standard’, 80 / 100 mile ‘Classic’ sportive or 120 mile ‘Extreme’ Sportive
• After ride’ food
• Feed and service stations
• All the camping – Friday to Monday
• Parking facilities
• Finishing prize
• Spot prizes
• Option to do Mountain Bike skills and riding tuition


09.02.09
Welcome to the new home of the Road Sportive Challenges 2009.

Last week saw the launch of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2009 by opening the entry to the 5 events of the season. But there is more.

Road Sportive Challenges 2009
Following the introduction of the Road Sportive Challenges in 2008 this year will see the continuation of the series at 3 of the 5 marathon locations. The addition of the road sportives will continue to open the events to a wider audience and to turn them into cycling festivals where every rider can find the ride they are looking for.

Dates for the Road Sportive Challenges 2009:
4th July --- Llanwrtyd Wells (Wales)
1st August --- Selkirk (Scotland)
19th September --- Ruthin (Wales)

As in the launch year each round will have two different courses (classic with 80-100mile and standard with 40-50mile) with the Selkirk round making the exception by hosting three. Selkirk will have the classic and standard sportive but also the newly introduced ‘extreme’ sportive with a course length of 120miles. So with three locations to choose from and with all together 7 courses on offer sportive riders off all abilities should be able to find a suitable challenge.

Besides adding the ‘extreme’ distance to the Selkirk round of the Series we have also given the events a new home on the web. The place where you can find out about the Road Sportive Challenges 2009 is from now on the dedicated sportive website www.gorebikewearsportives.com. The new site has all the event and location details, lots of tips and advice, course distributions and course maps as well as downloadable entry forms and online entry. Everything road related will be updated onto the new site from now on.

The ‘total riding weekends’:
All Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive events will be run on the Saturday of the event weekend and will be followed by the Merida Bikes MTB Marathons on the Sunday. This will continue to bring different cycling disciplines together and will give the hardened sportive rider the chance to find out how his/her power and stamina translates to the marathons courses of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series. The same goes for the hardened endurance experts out there as they will get the chance to get a ‘proper’ warm up ride on Saturday before the dirt awaits them the following day. There is a £10 discount for riders who take part in both events at the same weekend.

Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2009 – entry now open
The 2009 Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series will be once more sported by our long standing and loyal sponsor Merida Bikes ( HYPERLINK "http://www.merida.com" http://www.merida.com). For the 2009 series will again 5 UK events plus one ‘Merida Marathon on Holiday’ round in Austria up for grabs, all together we have 29 courses to choose from which will allow riders of all ability to find the ideal challenge. We have been busy on the marathon website ( HYPERLINK "http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk" http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk) and the site is now includes the downloadable entry forms and the updated online entry. Riders will be able to enter all Merida bikes MTB marathons (except the Austria round) and Gore Bike Wear Sportives through the entry facilities.

Dates (Merida Bikes MTB Marathon to be run on the Saturday of the event weekend):
11-12th April --- Builth Wells featuring the ELBNO Night Marathon (Wales)
15-16th May --- Crickhowell (Wales)
4-5th July --- Llanwrtyd Wells (Wales)
18th July --- ‘Merida Marathon on holiday’ Bad Goisern (Austria)
1-2nd August --- Selkirk (Scotland)
19-20th September --- Ruthin (Wales)

You can find all the details on the new rounds as well as the favorites on the event pages www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/events.php

TransWales 2009
If you want to venture a little bit further into the Mountain Bike event world than we have the ultimate challenge for you – the TransWales ’09 – 7 day stage MTB challenge. The entry to the 4th TransUK - the TransWales 2009 (15-22nd of August 2009) is open and we have already received lots of entries from all over the world. But don’t worry there are still lots of places available.

Our website www.mtbtransuk.co.uk has all the event details and entry facilities including the new online entry. The online entry makes payment from abroad a doddle as well as it allows participants to pay for the event via credit or debit cards. If you have already paid your deposit by cheque then you can still pay the remaining entry fee through the online entry (meaning via credit or debit cards).