Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series: Llanwrtyd Wells

By Michael Wilkens

1000 riders headed to Llanwrtyd Wells for some fun in the mud(Pic: Jon Brooke)

Almost 1000 rider made their way to Llanwrtyd Wells (the smallest town in Britain) to take part in one of the many rides on offer.

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.

This year John finally managed to take the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon series to Llanwrtyd Wells and going by the feedback managed to impress the majority of riders with the fantastic trails in 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 four 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 first 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 9hours and 2minutes on the trails.

With the third 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.

Enter online at www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/selkirk.php

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. Head to www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk.

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Discuss this article, 1 of 3 messages, read more:

The Welsh Idiot

Posted: 03/07/09 11:43:55 55

I wonder how much of the old Bog Leapers track it's going to use? I wish I could make it

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