Four down, only one to go. The Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport 2010 is slowly coming to an end but the events are still going from strength to strength.

More than 1200 riders made their way to the surprisingly weather spoiled (at least almost) Selkirk event. After rather wet conditions in 2008 the superb Selkirk courses enjoyed almost perfect conditions giving the Selkirk event a real feeling of summer riding.

The weather leading up to the event was mixed but luckily the weather resistant courses put together once more by Pete Laing weren’t affected at all giving the riders the chance to really enjoy the challenging sections Pete had added to the already much loved Selkirk courses.

Luckily bar some showers on the far ends of the sportive course and the last 30 minutes during Sunday’s MTB marathon the weather stayed fair and sunny making the CycleOps Power Road Sportive as well as the Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon a real success.

The event

After the road event came to an end on Saturday afternoon the mountain bikers started to descend onto the event village in Selkirk. More than 800 riders lined up ignoring the less promising weather forecast that a rather wet and unstable day would lie ahead.

And luckily for everyone the weather prognosis was wrong with the rain holding off for almost the entire day only with the rain coming in for the last 15-20 riders. Following feedback from the last couple of years course designer Pete Laing changed a few of the key sections as well as adding some more fantastic singletrack to the menu.

The T-shirt crew at the Rugby Club were greeted with a sheer endless line of big smiles and grins on people’s faces telling us that Pete had once more done a great job. One of the most impressed riders was marathon regular and multiple national XC and marathon champion Nick Craig who gave the event and the course in particular the thumbs up calling it ‘the best MTB marathon ever’.

The sunshine and the perfect finish line setup encouraged lots of people to stay for a while and to enjoy a cold drink while watching the riders come over the line. The first rider on the Mini Marathon made it over the line in just over an hour while the last rider on the 88km long full marathon took 8hours and 18min to complete the challenging course.

The final round

Your last chance to ride one a Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport event this year will be at Ruthin on the 18-19 September. For further details of the last marathon of the 2010 series head to www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/ruthin.php

Photos and website updates

Event photographer Jon Brooke and his colleagues were again on site as well as on course taking pictures of pretty much everybody. So just go onto Jon’s website www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk to find your photos there to view or buy.