Nick Craig braves the conditions

Despite the wet weather, over 900 riders turned out

We’ve just returned from the second round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2009 which was hosted at the new location of the Glanusk Estate in Crickhowell, giving all that took part four never before used courses. The weather turned the already challenging trails into an extra tough ride but that didn’t stop almost 900 riders entering the event.

John Lloyd has been looking at the area surrounding Crickhowell which sits between the softly rounded Black Mountains and the dramatic Brecon Beacons for some time and this year he finally managed to include this fantastic location into the series. With the weather offering everything in between warm sunny spells and rain all day on Saturday and even added hail storms to the line-up on Sunday the riders had a real challenge on their hands.

The 10am start on Sunday morning was as always a mass start affair which took the rider through the beautiful Glanusk estate, followed by promenading through Crickhowell before heading up into the hills. The 1st rider on the 35km long mini marathon came over the line in just over two hours while the last riders on the full (80km) marathon made it back into the event village at 6.14pm after 8 hours and 14 minutes on the trails.

Even with the heavy downpours the courses held up pretty well giving us confidence that Crickhowell is going to stay in the series for years to come.

Watch the action and the scenery on MTB-Marathon.co.uk. For the 1st time we have real ‘moving’ footage from out on the trail. Alan Dupre rode more or less the entire event with a handlebar cam and put a nice 10minute clip together. Here it is:

The next round

The next round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series heads to Llanwrtyd Wells on 5 July, the place where John Lloyd got introduced to mountain biking and where he spent the first few years of his riding career. The area is littered with natural and purpose built trails and will offer something challenging and enjoyable to riders of all abilities.

More details and entry forms at www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/llanwrtyd_wells.php