The first edition of the three day Vietnam Mountain Bike Marathon is set to take place from November 4 – 6 2016 in the remote mountainous region surrounding Sapa. Registration for the bike race is now open.
With a backdrop of the highest peaks in Indochina and the Hoang Lien National Park deep in the far north, this three day mountain bike race offers truly pioneering riding. Racers will be the first ever to take on these trails through rice terraces and among ethnic minority villages.
The route covers large parts of very remote mountains meaning competitors will see parts of this region that normally remain out of reach. Participants from Australia, Thailand, Switzerland, Malaysia and Indonesia have already signed up, so the race is set to be a truly international event.
Day one’s 55km stage covers the remote north, home to the flower Hmong minorities. The 68km stage two heads to the southern area populated by the Tay and Red Dao people. The race then concludes with a wild sprint stage back towards Sapa town through Black Hmong villages.
24hr racing World number two and multiple Canadian national champion Cory Wallace rode some of the course on test runs earlier in the year. He said, “every year there are a couple of rides that blow your mind and the recon mission into the backwoods of Vietnam to check out this race course for November was one of them!”
Race Director Asger Koppen, who also founded the Vietnam Mountain Marathon, said: “This race was born out of my love for these mountains. I worked here for years and spent a lot of time discovering these trails, so I’m now very excited to share them with other adventurous mountain bikers.”
David Lloyd, Director of Sport, said: “The trails around Sapa are incredible. The days we spent out on the bikes creating these routes have been some of my best days ever on a bike – the riding is spectacular and the sense of getting truly remote is unbeatable.”
While the organisers are expecting to welcome some high level riders who will be aiming for podium spots, they say that for many entrants, simply completing all three tough days will be a victory in itself.
This is the first edition and no other race has ever taken place here, so riders will need to arrive with plenty of adventurous spirit!
Some background on the Vietnam Mountain Bike Marathon
Turn the clock back five or six years and there were very few international races held in Vietnam, but over the last three years the sports scene has seen major development. One of the first large scale events to take off was the Vietnam Mountain Marathon, a trail running event organised by Topas Travel in the mountains around Sapa. This race has rocketed from 250 entrants to almost 1,500 in just four years.
Now the team behind Vietnam’s biggest trail race has announced a new addition to the racing calendar – the Vietnam Mountain Bike Marathon. Sister event the Vietnam Mountain Marathon has donated thousands of dollars to good causes and the mountain bike race will also benefit the communities that live along its route. A charity donation of $20 is included in every race entry meaning as well as riding on the area’s beautiful trails, racers will be giving back directly to it.
Need more details? Visit the event website.