Five down, only one to go. The Merida MTB Marathon Series 2008 is slowly coming to an end but the events are still going from strength to strength. Nearly 1,200 riders made their way to the rather wet Selkirk event. After last years first introduction to the bad weather capability of the superb Selkirk course the riders were unfortunately once more exposed to the wet elements, luckily without spoiling the fun.

The weather forecast leading up to the event was still looking positive and when the riders started to arrive at the Rugby Club in Selkirk the sun was out again greeting them with a promising smile. Unfortunately the weather turned progressively worse and turned the event village and part of the course into the mountain bike Glastonbury of the north.

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 900 riders ignored the weather and took up the challenge the Selkirk course had to offer.

Pete Laing took some of the shortcomings of the 2007 event on board and created a completely new mini-marathon while maintaining a much loved course for the three longer distances. He still managed to add a few extra bits into the courses to give them the extra edge. Luckily the course in Selkirk can stand up fairly well to the wet conditions of the weekend and at around 6.30pm the last rider came of the hill – still with a big smile on their face.

The final round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2008 will join the Gore Sportives once more and head to Penrith on 13-14 September. Chris Ford took the feedback from last years event on board and created a course which will offer a great challenge for the MTB riders while showing off the best riding the Lakes have to offer around Penrith. Again we will send some more course details out in the weeks to come.

Next (and last) round – Penrith

The entry for the Penrith event is open and there are places available for all four courses as well as for the sportive. Find out more and enter the upcoming Penrith round.