So far the year 2020 has thrown up challenges around the world. The world of sport has been upended, but in some countries events have been able to reschedule, allowing us mountain bikers to set goals for later in the year. Goal setting is a key part of motivation, and a positive goal to train […]
Johnston and Mattocks win 15th Convict 100
The Convict 100 mountain bike marathon has now well and truly established itself as a classic and reliable staple on the Australian XCM calendar. The race originally called the Dirt Works Classic was first run in 2004 making it one of the oldest continuously running marathons in Australia. A very similar course has been used […]
Riding through history at the Convict 100
Here in Australia, we don’t have the amount of historical paths and routes that fall into everyday use like some parts of the world. While we still have plenty of examples where indigenous routes of travel have become major traffic corridors, we don’t have quite the same connection with the lived history. We don’t have […]
Tackle the Convict 100 with these #protips
Related Event: Convict 100 - Sydney's marathon mountain bike race
Marathon races have come and gone in Australia. The list of racers which won’t run again can be depressingly long. The Angry Doctor, Wombat 100, Highland Fling, Capital Punishment, 3 Ring Circus – all gone. But the Convict 100 has stayed true, and stayed strong. It’s a point-to-point race that runs in one big loop […]
Kafka wins 2017 Convict 100
Related Event: Convict 100 - Sydney's marathon mountain bike race
St Albans is a sleepy town on the banks of the MacDonald River, a tributary of the Hawkesbury River about 2hrs drive north of Sydney. Settled in 1842 it doesn’t see a lot of heavy traffic other that 1 weekend in May for the Convict 100. Due to the location from Sydney, many opt to […]
The Convict 100 – the marathon that doesn’t make sense
Related Event: Convict 100 - Sydney's marathon mountain bike race
At the start of this year, we published a post outlining the ingredients that make for a great marathon MTB race. One of the stand out components is the route – it needs to be challenging and interesting, and you’d also expect there to be singletrack. So how come, the Convict 100 has no singletrack, and […]
English and Smith crush the Convict 100
Related Event: Convict 100
I wasn’t supposed to race the Convict 100 – not at all. Instead, I was supposed to be at a team training camp with my road team to prepare for the NRS race Battle on the Border. BUT it turned out that I was going to be in Canberra last week for some skills training […]
Crunching the Convict – racing by numbers
Related Event: Convict 100
In 2005, XCM as we know it today wasn’t really a thing. There certainly wasn’t any XCM series, and people participated in 100-kilometre races because 100 is a nice round number and they were looking for a challenge. The Convict 100, or Dirtworks 100 as it was known then, was a pretty radical idea. Someone […]
The MTBA XCM Series: The first half awaits
The MTBA XCM National Series started on Sunday 22nd March with the 5th James Williamson Memorial Enduro. It’s a great event, held in memory of the late James Williamson, and was a late addition to the series, making for seven races around the country. With that race won, and points awarded, we can look to […]
Convict 100 to reverse for 2015
Related Event: XCM Series: Convict 100
The 2015 season is shaping up to be yet another awesome year to be a mountain biker. With a jam-packed national series kicking things off early and then new races being added to the mix like the Evocities series and Rock & Road race. Another exciting development has also come, with the news that the […]