Warm winter sun, dusty trails, singletrack, technical trails and an official race hotel, the Cap Negret, right at the beach’s edge, what’s not to like? This is the Costa Blanca Bike Race, held at the end of January in Altea on the southeast coast of Spain. Utilising the surrounding coastal mountain range, it’s 4-day stage […]
Time for something new
Related Event: Rumble in the Jungle
When I set up the MarathonMTB.com website in late 2010, it was only because I had countless hours of help from a friend. By help, I mean he built it, designed it, and continues to look after the site to this day. I just had a concept. After working, riding, racing and travelling for the […]
Carpathian Epic – MTB stage racing in Romania
Have you heard of the Carpathian MTB Epic? It is a multi-stage mountain bike race, accredited by UCI held in Romania. In it’s second year big names from the world mountain biking stage have already announced their intentions. On August 16, 2018, the next famous cyclists will compete in 4-day EPIC race: Ariane Lüthi, who […]
Marathon reflections and XCM dreams
The National XCM Champs in Townsville, held last weekend on 29 April, was a race that had started out a huge goal for me when I planned my season months and months ago but which, as the event approached, ended up being something I was quite relaxed about on the day. The last few months […]
7 things I have learnt from 10 years of mountain bike stage racing
It’s 2018 and I have realised it is now more than 10 years since my first mountain bike stage race – BIKE Transalp in 2008, where I raced with Scott Cornish. Interestingly enough Scott was also racing at the Snow Bike Festival in January earlier this year, an altogether different race to the 8 days […]
Ivory and Beck take line honours at 2018 LEITA
The first stage of Lasseters Easter in the Alice doubles as the opening rounds of the Australian XCM Series – so not only does the 75km race decide who takes the LEITA leader’s jersey into stage 2 tomorrow, it also denotes who leads the XCM Series ahead of the 2nd round – which is also […]
Preparing for Easter in the Alice
Related Event: Easter in the Alice
Lasseters Easter in the Alice starts tomorrow, with the first stage sending elite racers on a 75km singletrack-heavy loop of some of the best and some of the roughest trails in Alice Springs. Racing in Alice Springs at this event, or The Redback in August, combines a number of unique demands. The trails in Alice […]
Sonya Looney tackles the conditions at Andalucia Bike Race
Related Event: Andalucia Bike Race
It started like a normal day in the Mediterranean at Spain’s premiere stage race. But the days to follow would be plagued with extreme rain, mud and challenges. Andalucia Bike Race is a UCI S1 6 day stage race in Southern Spain. This would be Sonya’s second time at the race with her first time in 2014. […]
Canyon Topeak Factory Racing and dormakaba fight for Tankwa Trek leads
Related Event: Tankwa Trek
Canyon Topeak Factory Racing and dormakaba fought their way to very different but equally courageous stage victories on the opening stage of the 2018 Momentum Health Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, on Friday the 9th of February. The 83 kilometre long opening stage took in 1900m of climbing and encircled the beautiful Witzenberg Valley; along […]
A Bag for the Epics: Camelbak HAWG review
A little while ago, I saw a pretty inflammatory Camelbak advertisement: the last time you bought a hydration pack, they looked like this. Nothing could be truer for me. I had an ancient blue Camelbak Mule, complete with zips busted from chronic overloading, horrendous fading and sweat staining, and a certified biohazard status. But, for all […]