For an Australian XCO racer, the National Championships is the biggest race of the year, I have been trying to take the green and gold for 8 years, and have had nothing else on my mind for the last 12 months. This might seem obsessive, and it probably is, but everyone gets into sport for […]
Great Otway Gravel Grind wraps up the Otway weekend
The Great Otway Gravel Grind is, in my opinion, what makes the Oddysey weekend such a worthwhile event, and sets it apart from any other racing in Australia. After a hard day on Saturday racing the 100km MTB marathon, most riders returned to Apollo Bay, and enjoyed celebratory beers and chat to their mates, with […]
McConnells conquer Otway Odyssey
A huge field of riders took to thr trails that make up one of Australia’s most respected (and toughest!) mountain bike races at the Otway Odyssey MTB Marathon on Saturday 20 February, 2021. Olympic representatives’ Dan McConnell and Bec McConnell were the first male and female to conquer the 100km, branding themselves in the history […]
MarathonMTB Team Camp 2020 – down in Tasmania
With restrictions of movement and cancellation of events in 2020 race days for our team have been few and far between. Myself and Mike Blewitt were able to race and report from the Arabian Epic- Jordan in February. Following that the classic Otway Odyssey weekend in Victoria and MTBA XCO national championship were the last […]
Goal-setting and motivation during COVID
With no foreseeable racing at a high level, it can be hard to find the motivation for training. I myself find training harder, but the usual OCD attitude towards training is slipping. Occasionally I have been taking the easy way out of intervals, or finding excuses not to complete a program, and let’s be honest, […]
Sam Fox recaps XCO National Championships
In Australia, The Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) XCO National Championships is the race that brings out all the big names. 2020 was no exception, with previous winners returning to defend their titles in Elite Men and Women, under 23 Men and Women, and other big names like Cam Ivory (2018 XCO, XCM, XCC champ), Brendan […]
Epic Trail (and views) at Bike Buller
Bike Buller is a 3-day mountain bike festival at, you guessed it, Mt Buller. There’a plenty of XC action amongst the gravity events, and today the Epic Trail point-to-point let us loose on the alpine singletrack in the Victorian High Country. A flat is definitely a good way to let your race, and your tyre, […]
Sam Fox joins the MarathonMTB.com Team
For 2020 the MarathonMTB.com Team will expand to four riders. With up to six riders on the team in previous years, 2019 was a smaller team of three riders with Imogen Smith, Justin Morris and Mike Blewitt. Sam raced in the MarathonMTB.com colours at The Pioneer in 2019, racing with previous team member Sebastian Jayne […]
The Pioneer 2019 – Stage Five
For the 2019 edition of The Pioneer, Sam Fox has teamed up with Sebastian Jayne to race as the MarathonMTB.com Team. Sam will be reporting each day. He’s also the youngest rider in the race at just 19 years of age. And then it arrived. The final day of The Pioneer. After two shortened stages due to adverse […]
The Pioneer 2019 – Stage Four
For the 2019 edition of The Pioneer, Sam Fox has teamed up with Sebastian Jayne to race as the MarathonMTB.com Team. Sam will be reporting each day. He’s also the youngest rider in the race at just 19 years of age. Today we had another shortened stage like yesterday, to the relief of many riders. After arriving […]