Photos © Jon Brooke

The winter break is slowly coming to an end (even it doesn’t feel like that at the moment) which means the marathon season is only a few months away.

The 2009 Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series will once again be supported by long-standing and loyal sponsor Merida Bikes, and for 2009 there’s five UK dates plus one ‘Merida Marathon on Holiday’ in Austria.

The Merida MTB Marathon website – www.mtb-marathon.co.uk – has been updated over the winter break and now includes downloadable entry forms and online entry. Riders will be able to enter all Merida bikes MTB marathons (except the Austria round) and Gore Bike Wear Sportives online.

As in previous years all events will have four different course lengths to choose from so that every rider can find a suitable challenge. The courses are approximately 25, 50, 75 and 100km long. The exception to this rule is the Exposure Lights Big Night Out weekend where there is one course length on Saturday night and three different lengths on Sunday.

All marathons are run as non-competitive single loop rides with the start and finish being conveniently located in the event village. All rides have mass starts where all courses and categories start together. As always every entered rider is invited to take part in the pre-marathon ‘carbo loading’ at the pasta party and will be given the obligatory finishing T-shirt when coming over the finish line.

Dates

– 11-12 April – Builth Wells featuring the ELBNO Night Marathon
– 15-16th May – Crickhowell

– 4-5 July – Llanwrtyd Wells (featuring the Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive on Saturday)

– 18 July – ‘Merida Marathon on holiday’ Bad Goisern, Austria

– 1-2 August – Selkirk (featuring the Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive on Saturday)

– 19-20 September – Ruthin (featuring the Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive on Saturday)

Following the order of the last few years the first event of the 2009 season will be the Exposure Lights Big Night Out (ELBNO) night marathon powered by Exposure Lights. The ELBNO night marathon is almost entirely run at night and features a 40km long course which is loaded with single track, open moorland, forest roads and fast flowing off-road sections which will make this event a real challenge.

The ELBNO is followed by the Spring marathon on Sunday morning which will have three different courses (approx. 30, 45 and 65km) on offer.

More at www.mtb-marathon.co.uk