The Maverick Marathon Series has announced announce its return in 2015, with entries into the first round Capital Punishment and second round Giant Odyssey already open and filling up. The big news is that 2015 also sees the inclusion of Queensland’s Flight Centre Epic, and that the Kowalski Classic has chosen to not be part of the […]
Redback to hit Alice Springs this August
Stage racing in Central Australia is not a new thing. I remember jealously watching team mates and friends pack up their bags 10 years ago to head out for a stage race at Alice Springs, and they came back raving about raw trails, an amazing event vibe, and thorns. Alice Springs has hosted various iterations […]
Racing Australia’s Red Heart – darkness and rain! ICME 5 & 6
I finished racing hours ago but I’m still shaking. It’s the inevitable result of sleep deprivation, lactic acid accumulation, caffeine ingestion, and a lot of adrenalin! I can now safely admit that I loathe night racing, but was trying to keep positive before Rapid Ascent’s ICME stage 5 last night in the hope that this […]
Racing Australia’s Red Heart – ICME stage 4 and the race to recover
This morning we raced an individual mountain bike time trial over 22 kilometres, through sandy, washed-out four-wheel-drive track and singletrack. The course was a little less curvy and a little flatter than I’d hoped, but I managed to put myself through enough pain to win by a few seconds, which made me very, very happy. […]
Riding Australia’s Red Heart – ICME Stages 2 & 3
Just because it’s the desert doesn’t mean its flat, and Alice Springs has one tough climb on its western edge: Anzac Hill. It’s not very long – only a few hundred metres of sealed road, but the gradient boots up to about 26%, and averages about 12%. Stage 2 of ICME, yesterday evening, had us […]
Riding Australia’s Red Heart – ICME Stage 1
Bearing in mind that a lot of MarathonMTB.com readers are from all around the world, and that many Australians don’t know where Alice Springs is anyway, I thought I’d start this series of blogs about Alice Spring’s biggest MTB event with this fascinating geography primer. Skip ahead a few paragraphs if you just want the […]
Entries Open for 2014 Giant Odyssey Marathon MTB Race
Rapid Ascent have welcomed Giant Bicycles Australia as the new naming rights sponsor of the legendary Giant Odyssey Mountain Bike Marathon, now set for Sunday 27th April 2014 in Forrest, South-West Victoria. “Giant Bicycles Australia is extremely proud to be partnering with Rapid Ascent as naming rights sponsor of the Giant Odyssey.” Said Ben Johnson, […]