Photos from each event can be found at www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk

Welcome to the SCHWALBE MTB Marathon & Road Sportive Series 2013 Powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport

The 14th season of the MTB Marathon Series is here and we are excited to welcome our new title sponsor SCHWALBE Tyres. After years of being a loyal supporter to the series SCHWALBE has stepped up and now proud to be the title sponsor of the SCHWALBE MTB Marathon & Road Sportive Series 2013.

The 2013 series will once again offer a broad range of courses and locations to all you MTB Marathon enthusiasts, novices and intermediates alike. So whatever your skill or fitness level, we will have the right course length and level of difficulty for your ability with the choice of course length to progress over time – while enabling you to experience and discover challenging and exciting mountain biking terrain across the UK.

What is NEW in 2013?
For 2013 we have 4 events on offer who all have two events taken place over the weekend. So if you are a MTB enthusiast or a keen road sportive rider we will have a broad selection of locations and courses waiting for you.

The other big news for 2013 is that we are changing the running order of the activities over the weekend. All events – except the 1st round in Builth Wells – will have the MTB Marathon run on the Saturday followed by the Road Sportive on the traditional sportive day Sunday. In between we will have some live music and our events bar open to relax after the long day mountain biking.

The Builth Wells round will stay more traditional – with the EXPOSURE LIGHTS BIG NIGHT OUT (ELBNO) run on Saturday evening and the MTB-Marathons on Sunday.

What is going to happen in 2013 and how it is going to happen:

First of all, here is the complete date and venue line-up for the 2013 season:

Builth Wells {BUILTH PAGE} - Wales
13th April 2013 - Exposure Light Big Night Out (Night Marathon)
14th April 2013 – SCHWALBE MTB Marathon

Marshbrook {MARSHBROOK PAGE} – England (Shropshire)
13th July 2013 – SCHWALBE MTB Marathon
14th July 2013 - SCHWALBE Road Sportives

Abergavenny/Crickhowell {ABERGAVENNY PAGE} - Wales
3th August 2013 - SCHWALBE MTB Marathon
4th August 2013 - SCHWALBE Road Sportives

Ruthin {RUTHIN PAGE} - Wales
31st August 2013 - SCHWALBE MTB Marathon
1st September 2013 - SCHWALBE Road Sportives

The marathon event fee is only £35 with the ELBNO Night Marathon and mini marathon coming in at £30 or merely £20 if you are younger than 16 years and want to take part in the mini marathon. The sportives are £27. The entry fee includes the ride, free camping and parking, free coffee and tea throughout the weekend, post-event refreshments (ELBNO and sportives only), finisher present, service stations (food and technical support) around the course and bike wash facilities.

You can enter online (provided by British Cycling) or by downloading an entry form and sending that together with your payment by post. There is a small service fee added on when you enter online BUT please be aware that you don’t have to be or become a member of British Cycling to use the online entry. To enter the event(s), visit the entry page.

The event concept:
As in previous years most events will have three-four different MTB Marathon courses and two Road Sportive courses to choose from so that every rider can find a suitable challenge.

Mini Marathon - is approx 25 - 30km and is the first step into the world of MTB Marathons. The courses are not just shorter than their bigger brothers but also less technically challenging making them ideal for beginners, families who want to ride together and younger riders.

Half Marathon – is approx 40 – 50km and is the next step up in terms of distance and technical level from the mini marathon. Here you will come across some of the more technically difficult parts of the courses.

Middle Marathon – is approx 60 - 75km and sits between the half and the full marathon offering riders the next step up from the half or a good alternative if the full marathon is just a little long and tough on the day. You will find most of the challenging climbs and descents on this course.

Full Marathon – is approx 80 – 100km and is a real challenge for man and machine. This is how it all started more than ten years ago. You will be facing lots of climbing and descending as well as 4 – 8 hours in the saddle of your trusted steed.

All the courses on offer are ‘one loop’ affairs. You will all start together at the event village as a mass start and follow a pace car for a few miles so that you can find your place in the pecking order. The courses are run primarily off-road, completely marked so that no navigation is needed. Certain sections are marshalled for extra safety and we have medical cover out on course in case something goes wrong. On top of that you can find service stations (food and technical support) at regular intervals. The events are non-competitive, we don’t give out prizes, and instead we give out lots of spot prizes provided by our sponsors throughout the day. 

With a selection of distances at the four events you will find the perfect setup to progress from the mini all the way to the long course over the year. A tough job but possible!

Besides the aforesaid three-four standard marathons we also have two other big events planned throughout the series.

Exposure Lights Big Night Out Night Marathon: is around 40 – 50km and the course is specifically chosen for night riding. It follows the same principle as the standard marathons; only difference is that it is run at night. If you are thinking of doing the double (night marathon on Saturday and marathon on Sunday) then don’t worry about doing the same course twice – you won’t.

SCHWALBE Road Sportive: offers two distances, a approx. 40 - 50mile long standard or the approx. 80 - 100mile long classic sportive. These will run on the – NEW for 2013 - Sunday. Be prepared for some long and challenging climbs, some fast rolling roads and some of the most breath-taking scenery the areas have to offer. See our sportive website www.roadsportive.co.uk for further details.

So make sure you don’t miss out on the UK’s biggest MTB Marathons series - a year of mountain bike marathons, night marathons and Road Sportives are waiting for you!

And don’t forget our event photographer Jon Brooke will be attending taking photographs of you all! The photos will be up on www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk to view and purchase a few days after each event.

MTB Marathon Newsletter: gives riders and everyone who is interested in last minute updates, important information on the upcoming events and special offers from our sponsors. So if you are not already on the database make sure that you subscribe to it via the newsletter box on the top right.

If you would like to find out more about the general marathon concept, how to enter the SCHWALBE MTB Marathon and Road Sportive Series or find out facts and figures on the four events, as well as lots of technical and diet information, please visit the following pages:

• How to enter & entry fees
• Further details about the events
• Local information
• Diet advice
• Technical advice
• Useful information – FAQs & 15 Commandments
• Event organisers contact information

We will keep updating the site with the latest news, further course details and anything marathon related throughout the season so make sure you keep coming back to check out what’s new.