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


Welcome to the 2010 season of the Chain Reaction Cycles MTB (powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport) Marathon Series

The world’s largest online Bike Store is the new title Sponsor of the MTB Marathon Series.

After years of watching the development of the MTB Marathon Series (which is going into its 11th season) for the last few years Chain Reaction Cycles (www.chainreactioncycles.com) has finally taken on the popular MTB Marathon series and will be the title sponsor for at least 3 years. The new Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series (or CRC MTB Marathon Series) will carry on where the 2009 season left off but will also introduce lots of new riders and ideas to the events. And to top it all off – if you enter the event online (online entry hosted by CRC) they you can take advantage of the 5% discount on any product purchased whilst entering online.

For the last few years the MTB Marathon series has consisted of 5 different events starting in mid-April with the traditional Exposure Light Big Night Out night marathon and going all the way through the Summer bringing the series to an end around mid September with the final round in Ruthin, Wales. The 2010 series will stick to this well proven format while adding a few interesting changes to the line-up.

The biggest news for 2010 is the addition of a 2nd Exposure Lights Big Night Out and the introduction of a new English round at Grassington, Yorkshire. Further to this we are working on turning the 2nd round into a mini cycle festival. Besides the main MTB marathon we will host the Road Sportive, and a selection of other events. Selkirk will also host a Road Sportive.

The marathon concept
As in previous years all events will have four different courses to choose from so that every rider can find a suitable challenge. The exception to this rule are the Exposure Lights Big Night Out weekends where there is one course length on Saturday night and three-four different lengths on Sunday. The courses are approximately 25, 50, 75 and 100km long. All marathons are run as non-competitive one loop rides with the start and finish being conveniently located in the event village and the camp ground. All rides have mass starts where all courses and categories start together. As always every entered rider is invited to take part in the pre marathon ‘carbo loading’ at the pasta party and will be given the obligatory finishing T-shirt when coming over the finish line.

So, a year of mountain bike marathons, road sportives and a selection of other events is waiting for you!

This means there will be completely new and never before used courses added to the 2010 line-up. Exciting times in particular for the regular marathons riders we think.

You can Download the 2010 Entry Form HERE>>

Dates and venues 2010

Here is the complete date and venue line-up for the 2010 season:

Builth Wells - Wales 10-11th April 2010
Chain Reaction Cycles Spring Marathon / Exposure Light Big Night Out (Night Marathon)

Builth Wells - Wales 22-23rd May 2010
Chain Reaction Cycles MTB-Marathon (powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport) / Road Sportive

Grassington – England (Yorkshire) 3-4th July 2010 Chain Reaction Cycles MTB-Marathon (powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport)

Selkirk - Scotland 31st July -1st August 2010 Chain Reaction Cycles MTB-Marathon (powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport) / Road Sportive

Ruthin - Wales 18-19th September 2010 Chain Reaction Cycles MTB-Marathon (powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport) / Exposure Light Big Night Out (Night Marathon)

2010 setup
The MTB marathon will be run in its proven format with signing on, skills classes, pasta party and event village on the Saturday with the ride following on the Sunday morning. As part of the entry fee riders will have free parking and free usage of the facilities and camping. So rather than doing a quick stop over to take part in the marathon we believe it will be well worth coming over for a few days and making a proper little holiday of it. You can find some more details on all our events on the events pages.

The MTB Marathon website
Over the years we have been trying to add as much information about marathon riding as well as about our event to the site. You will find most questions answered by checking through the long list of navigation points you can find at the top of the site as well as keeping an eye on the regular updates you can find in the left hand column. If you should get stuck or can’t find what you are looking just go to our ‘Contact’ page and get in touch with John or Michael.

CycleActive Skills Arena
Due to popular demand in 2009, the Skills Arena brought to you by the UK’s leading mountain bike instructors at CycleActive will continue to be a big part of the event village in 2010.  This will be the place to come to on Saturday to learn to hop, drop, manual, corner faster, brake harder and control your bike in testing situations. 
As in 2009, “Instead of taking groups off-site we’ll be running focused, intensive one-hour sessions in a custom-built skills arena.  We’re building the woodwork this winter, so be prepared for some timber trails and exciting riding,” said CycleActive boss Chris Ford. 
Skills sessions will have restricted numbers but you’ll be able to sign up online closer to each event. All the sessions are free as well, so take advantage of this chance to learn from the best in the business, and push your skills up a level before the Sunday event.

Skills on Sundays
The Sunday sessions provided by CycleActive have been incredibly popular with younger riders, but also many adults who are not riding the event.  This year there will be a split of sessions on Sunday, with those for youngsters alternating with adult sessions.  “We’ll use the same course as Saturday, with a few modifications, so youngsters and adults of all abilities can come along and learn something, and have a lot of fun too,” explained Chris.
Teaching great technique to young riders makes a huge difference.  This programme of CycleActive junior training is something we’ve seen at these events for 4 years now, and many of the youngsters who started with CycleActive back then are now blasting round the 25km or even 50km courses with real confidence.  Again, it’s completely free and you don’t need to sign up for the Sunday sessions – just check times on the board when you arrive.
To find out more about CycleActive visit them at www.cycleactive.co.uk
To book a space on a skills ride email them at admin@cycleactive.co.uk

Entry and event details
Entry forms are available to download from our entry page. Alternatively you can enter the event online. Please make sure you read the instructions and event specific comments before you go through with the ordering process. If you haven’t yet subscribed to the newsletter then please go to the newsletter subscription box in the right hand column and send us your email details. This way you will be informed about all activities first hand.

New for 2010 will be that online entry will be hosted on the Chain Reaction Cycles web site. By doing so you can take advantage of the 5% discount on any product purchased whilst entering online.

Marathon Riding
For quite a few years now marathons have been around and extremely popular in Central Europe and Northern America with up to 5000 participants at some rides but the whole idea never really made it over to the UK. Events of a similar nature have been around but never rapped in the Marathon package. Since the year 2000 that has been different....READ THE FULL STORY>>