In a late move, British Cycling have announced that they will endorse a national Marathon Mountain Bike (XCM) Championships event for 2016. Set for August 28th, the race will take part in Crychan Forest, a mostly pine forest in Mid Wales.
With the race starting and finishing in Llandovery, the event aims to have a 40km course, where the Championship race contenders will need to cover two laps. Race organisers A Cycling will also run an open event (for those without a BC racing licence) called The Wild Welsh, where competitors can enter a 1 lap or two lap race.
The race fits well with the UCI calendar, coming one week after the Grand Raid which is quite popular for British marathon racers. It is also before the O-tour, in Switzerland, which is also readily accessible by British racing aspirants.
We look forward to hearing more about the course in the coming weeks. If you’re pretty much sold already, you can enter online.