Slightly moist underwheel at Rhayader (Pic: Jon Brooks/Sleepmonsters.com)

We have just returned from the second event of the Merida 100 MTB Marathon series which took place in Rhayader over 27-28 May. This event was the fourth time that the ‘100’ series came to this little town in central Wales and we have to admit that is was the event we were least happy with.

The weather leading up to the event made it really difficult to run it to the normally high standard we aim for. We would therefore like to apologise at this point to anybody who was disappointed by this round of the Merida 100 series.

We were surprised by the amount of last minute entries which clearly brought the event and the course to and maybe even over its limits. Almost 1,150 riders entered the round in Rhayader which made for the biggest field we have ever seen at this location.

Saturday saw the usual ‘signing on’ and ‘getting set up’ routine and again a great show by the guys from CycleActive who provided excellent skills and warm-up rides. The rides were again booked out within minutes and so we would like to recommend to everyone who is interested in their services at any of the future events to sign on well in advance. Please keep in mind that only eight places are available per session. Due to the World Cup being on over the same weekend the marquee was a little less busy with trade stands but still made for a great atmosphere especially when the Merida bike was given away on Saturday night.

Sunday morning came and luckily the weather decided to come up with something more enjoyable. The sun started to shine, a sight most of the riders hadn’t seen for quite a while. Unfortunately it was too late to help drying out the course but at least the drive into the campground was now hard enough for people to leave after the event without the help of a friendly 4×4 driver or an army of people giving their car a push. After just over 90 minutes the first rider came over the line finishing the 25km Mini Marathon followed by a never ending stream of riders crossing the line underneath our new High5 finish blow up tent. Luckily the weather stayed stable during the day which made for a great festival like atmosphere around the finish area.

This event certainly taught us a lesson as to what is possible and what needs to be addressed for future events. We would like to assure everybody that we are doing our best to prevent problems in the future, problems that occurred due to the unfortunate weather and unexpected flood of late entries. One step will be restricting the fields at certain locations so that the event, the facilities and the course can cope with all eventualities.

Bad Goisern event

With the summer hopefully getting started now we hope that the remaining events of the 2006 season will be blessed with better weather and that we will manage to coordinate the big numbers of riders we have been getting this year more efficiently. The weather picking up and summer finally arriving also means “Merida 100 on holiday” time and with the latest super cheap offers of just £9.50 on Ryanair everybody should grab the chance to experience a very different marathon riding experience. If you haven’t been to the ‘Merida 100 on holiday’ in your marathon career maybe this is the year. Big mountains, clean air and thousands of other likeminded bikers from all over Europe – what a great combination. Check out the details on the event and on the accommodation deal we have organised for you on the Bad Goisern page: http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/bad_goisern.php.

Photos and other updates

We had Jon Brook from Sleepmonsters on site at Rhayader, at various points along the course taking pictures of all the riders. He has been a busy bee since he left the event on Sunday night and has already added all the images to their photo pages. Here is the link so you can find the images: http://www.sleepmonsters.co.uk/photoshop.php. Besides this we have also added a few updates to our own marathon site. So simply check out the news and results section on http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk.

Next marathon

If you couldn’t make it to the first or second round of the Merida 100 Series, don’t worry as the next one is only a few weeks away. The next round is going to take place in Builth Wells, the birthplace of the ‘100’ series, on the weekend of 1/2 July. There are still lots of places available but due to the problems with too many riders at the Rhayader round we will have to put a limit of 1,000 riders on the event. We do strongly recommend you enter in advance as we may not be able to take day entries. To get your downloadable entry form or to use our new online entry simply go to http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk.