Australia’s first gravel stage race, the Shimano Gravel Muster Stage Race, took place in the Red Centre from Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th August 2024. The unique event mixed the experience that Rapid Ascent has of running stage races in the area, the boom in gravel riding, and a fun mix of racing and social stages – […]
Epic gravel riding in the Wiltshire hills – Hotchillee Stone Circle 2024
I’ve said it many times, but the Hotchillee Stone Circle was one of the best days on the bike last year. That says a lot, considering all the amazing events we get to travel to all over the world. Once again this year, the event came up top trumps. Everything from the route to the […]
Taking on the Shimano Gravel Muster in Alice Springs
Earlier this year Australian event promoters Rapid Ascent announced a new race in an ancient place; the Shimano Gravel Muster. As long-time hosts of the popular mountain bike stage race in Alice Springs known as The Redback, the event crew decided to bring their expertise in events to something new for Australia – a multi-day […]
Ice cream and gravel in Scotland: The Gralloch
On Friday, we embarked on a journey hundreds of miles north to the picturesque town of Gatehouse of Fleet in Scotland. This tiny, sleepy town is nestled among castles, rolling green hills, stony beaches, and the Irish Sea. However, the tranquility was about to be replaced with a burst of energy as the UCI Gravel […]
What bike for Sunday Creek Classic?
The Sunday Creek Classic is a young event in Queensland, and 2024 will see the 3rd edition held on May 25 from Kenilworth. Like a classic marathon, the event starts and finishes in the one spot, and like a quality rural event in Australia, that spot is the local showground. The course covers about 120km […]
Santa Vall: Kickstarting the European Gravel Season
Santa Vall was the opening race of this years Gravel Earth Series, a series which defines what gravel should be, fast racing with an equal amount of fun and partying. The series has a total of 20 events with five headliners, which include The Traka in Girona Spain, The Rift in Iceland and Ranxo Gravel […]
Pauliena Rooijakkers and Wout van Aert win Houffa Gravel
The latest round of the UCI Gravel World Series took place this weekend in Houffalize, Belgium. Houffa Gravel would be the second last qualifier of the season and attracted one of the biggest stars in cycling, the vice world champion in road and cross, Wout van Aert who choose this to be his first UCI […]
The Rift Iceland- a racing adventure
Nothing can prepare you for the spectacular nature that greets you in Iceland, to race through this landscape is a dream come true. Raylyn Nuss perfectly summed up the route, “it was definitely the prettiest, most scenic, beautiful race I’ve done in my life.” The race course starts out of a small town along the […]
Ekoi Stone Circle by Hotchillee – Big kilometers means big adventure
Fun is fast but slow can also be fun. Who rides fast anyway for 215 kilometres? Ok so our friends over the pond in the US show it is possible to race fast for that long and there are plenty of gravel races in Europe of that distance or longer but sometimes it fun to […]
Bike check: Mike Blewitt’s Factor LS for the Devil’s Cardigan
Here at MarathonMTB.com we’ve realised there is a lot of crossover between the training, racing, and outlook of marathon events and gravel events. And that’s why along with Justin Morris and Imogen Smith, I’m mixing in a few gravel events this year. Having used a Norco Threshold for cyclocross racing, road racing, training and gravel […]