We are just about to head out to the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells to set up the event village for the first round of the 2013 series (13-14 April) of the MTB Marathon Series powered by . Before the event officially opens we thought we would let you know how things are looking there.
The Riding
Course designer John Lloyd has been super busy over the last few weeks and months (not shying away from lots of rides in the snow either) and has created some fantastic new courses for the 2013 opener. To start with the first half of the 70km route is completely different to the course we have used in the past. John has been working hard on his bike looking for new trails and has come up with some great sections of single-track across a new hill, previously never used in a marathon.
The 70km riders re-join the others at Fforest Fields before going up onto Aberedw Hill, using the best of the old and yet more new single-track sections.
The Exposure Lights Big Night Out night pilots will also be presented with an almost entirely new course with a new and very exciting finish.
And to top it all off John has given the courses the ‘weather proof’ once over.
As always there will be well stocked feed stations at regular intervals out on course and Cycle-tec (www.cycle-tec.co.uk) will be providing mechanic services out on course and at the venue.
We have the profiles, distances and feed station locations up on the latest website update.
Can I still get in? Entry on the day?
There are still places available for the Builth Wells round as well as the other remaining rounds of the Schwalbe MTB Marathon Series 2013. You can still enter pre-enter via the online entry up to the 11th April. Pre-entry will close then.
To enter the events please go to the Exposure Lights Big Night Out event page or the MTB Marathon Series 2013 Builthwells event page. For further information visit the event website: http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk (course details can also be viewed here).
If you can’t make up your mind then you can also enter at the event.
Registration and start times
The registration, camping, event village, parking as well as start/finish is all based at the Royal Welsh Showground – postcode LD2 3SY. The showground has all the mod cons, showers, proper toilets, tarmac to park on, unfortunately no hook ups for caravans, but lots of nice clean grass to camp on.
The registration is open on Saturday from 12pm (noon) – 8pm and then again on Sunday from 7-10am. Simply make your way to the registration when you arrive, sign next to your name and get all the bits and pieces you need for the weekend handed to you.
The start of the night marathon is at 7.30pm on Saturday and the start of the ‘day’ marathon is at 10.30am on Sunday morning. The venue will be signposted from Friday lunch-time onwards and the campground will be open from Friday all the way through to Monday – for everybody who wants to make a longer weekend out of it.
Photos on course
We will have 2 photographers out on the course; our regular photographer, Jon Brooke and his colleague - the idea being to give you an even greater selection of images to choose from. Check out Jon’s website where you can find your photos to view and to buy. It normally takes Jon a couple of days before the photos go live.
What else is going on
Once again we will have a broad range of traders and exhibitors on site: Schwalbe and Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport will take centre stage in the (all indoors) event village. Gore Bike Wear will run their popular Try B4 You buy offer, Pivot Cycles will have a selection of their latest bikes available to demo on our specially created course and Exposure Lights will show their latest lighting equipment. We have catering throughout the weekend and the MTB-Marathon bar on Friday and Saturday night. The City College Norwich crew will provide massage services, Torq will be at hand with nutrition advice as well as retailing their products….and so on, and so on.
If you can’t make it:
Should you not be able to make it to the Builth round – don’t worry as this is just the start of another great year of MTB-Marathons and road sportives.
From the next round onwards we will cater also for the road riders out there and will continue the streak of double events.
Marshbrook – England (Shropshire)
13th July 2013 – SCHWALBE MTB Marathon - Enter Here
14th July 2013 – SCHWALBE Road Sportives - Enter Here
Abergavenny/Crickhowell - Wales
3th August 2013 – SCHWALBE MTB Marathon - Enter Here.
4th August 2013 – SCHWALBE Road Sportives – Enter Here.
Ruthin - Wales
31st August 2013 – SCHWALBE MTB Marathon – Enter Here.
1st September 2013 – SCHWALBE Road Sportives – Enter Here.
All the details of the SCHWALBE MTB Marathon & Sportive Series 2013 powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport are now on www.mtb-marathon.co.uk. For more road sportive specific info please go to www.roadsportives.co.uk.
Both websites are up-to-date and the online entry provided by British Cycling calendar is now open. Also make sure you check the new MTB-Marathon facebook site for the latest news and updated directly from the frontline of the 2013 series.
