Selkirk served up another cracking course for the 900 riders (pic: Lauris Naglins)

Five down, one to go. The Merida MTB Marathon Series 2009 is slowly coming to an end but the events are still going from strength to strength.

More than 900 riders made their way to our sun-drenched Selkirk event. After last year’s rather wet conditions the new superb Selkirk courses enjoyed almost dry 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 too badly giving the riders the chance to really enjoy the new sections.

More than 900 riders lined up being told by the promising weather forecast that a sunny day would lie ahead. And for once the weather forecast did not disappoint. 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. Even with the mixed weather prior to the event the course was in almost perfect condition. 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 under 2hrs while the last rider on the 88km long full marathon took 8hrs 41min to complete the challenging course.

Final event – Ruthin

The final round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2009 will join the Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive once more and head to Ruthin on 19-20 September.

Further details at www.mtb-marathon.co.uk where you can also enter online.

Photo

Event photographer Jon Brooke and his colleague Lauris Naglins were again on site as well as on course taking pictures of pretty much everybody. See them now at www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk

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