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NEWS... |
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03.08.10 Selkirk event report HERE>> |
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28.07.10 Selkirk Event News HERE>> |
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06.07.10 Grassington event report HERE>> |
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30.06.10 News update before the Yorkshire round HERE>> |
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24.06.10 IMPORTANT NEWS from the Grassington Round HERE>> |
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25.05.10 News and Photos from the Builth Marathon HERE>> |
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21.05.10 News from the Builth event showground HERE>> |
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19.05.10 Only a couple of days before the Builth event, latest HERE>> |
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26.04.10 Youtube videos and more from the first event HERE>> |
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19.04.10 News report from the first of this years Marathons HERE>> |
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09.04.10 News from the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells...HERE>> |
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06.04.10 Only a couple of days to go before the first event of 2010 - latest event news HERE>> |
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26.03.10 Only a couple of weeks to go before the 1st event of the 2010 season will kick off at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells...HERE>> |
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15.03.10 Temperatures are still low but there is no denying that spring is trying its best to break through. And with spring approaching the 1st round of the Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport can’t be far away. In fact we are talking only four weeks from now. HERE>> |
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10.02.10 For 2010 the Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series is being supported by Mercedes-Benz and the Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport van. This versatile vehicle delivers on style without compromising practicality. The Vito Sport will be on site at the event, showing off its assets and why it’s got the mountain bikers’ seal of approval.HERE>> |
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2009 News HERE>> |
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2008 News HERE>> |
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2005 |
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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.
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2005 |
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