It’s the last week before the Scottish round of the Merida 100 MTB Marathon in Selkirk opens its doors. We are expecting more than 1,000 riders to join us at what is widely regarded as the best course the UK enduro scene has to offer.

Entries

We have currently more than 900 entries with last minute entries still flying in. As this event is far away from home for us please note that we will only be able to receive postal entry forms till Thursday 27 July. Every entry form arriving at our offices after that cannot be considered for the Selkirk round. So that still leaves a couple of days for postal entries. The online entry is still open and is rather busy. You can enter via the online facilities (http://mtb-marathon.co.uk/catalog/) up to Thursday evening. Please don’t use the online entry after that as it will be impossible for us to incorporate the entries into the signing on lists. For all the very late deciders we will still take entries on the day. Please be aware of the £2 surcharge for day entries.

Event

The event is based at the Rugby Club in Selkirk (Streetmap) which will be signposted from Friday lunchtime onwards. Simply make your way to Selkirk and follow the signs. Signing on will be open from 12 noon-8pm on Saturday and from 7-9am on Sunday. The start of the ride is at 10am from the Rugby Club.

Event village

As we mentioned in the last email Selkirk always attracts a healthy amount of companies. What Mountain Bike magazine will be hanging out in the big tent. Jez Loftus and Pete Travers from the WMB crew will be available to chat to on Saturday, selling copies of the mag from the WMB stand, and showing some of the latest mountain bike DVDs on their big screen TV. Besides that the guys from 2Pure (http://www.2pure.co.uk/), the UK distributor for Crank Brothers, will be on site showing the latest products and offering technical support for all Crank Brothers users. And finally the guys from ZIGGG (www.ziggg.com) will be on site demonstrating their full sized protection from the elements called the ZIGGG which fits in a pocket or small pouch. Check their stand out as the weather in this country is always full of surprises.

Weather and Course conditions

Talking about weather – it has been and still is fantastic up in Selkirk. That leaves the course in perfect condition at the moment. The weather forecast for the next few days is still great so it is all looking like the perfect summer marathon. We will send another email with further weather and course updates from the frontline in Selkirk. With potentially hot weather for the event PLEASE make sure you can transport sufficient water when you are out on the ride. We strongly recommend a hydration system or at least two big bottles.

Saturday Skills Rides with CycleActive

As at previous events we will have our friends from CycleActive running their skills rides and courses. We only have a few places left so please be quick if you want to take part. The Trail Skills rides are very busy already but there are still a few places available for the Get Started Rides. If you are tackling the 25 or 50km for the first time this might be a good chance to freshen up on things on Saturday and put them into practice on Sunday. There are two levels on offer.

Get Started Rides – for people quite new to off-road biking who want to work on bike balance and control, technical climbing, descending and cornering techniques.

Trail Skills Rides – an intermediate to advanced ride which gives you a good warm up and develops your ability to ride drops, step-ups, steep or technical terrain and anything else you want to bring up with the instructor.

Rides depart at 12:00pm, 2:30pm and 5pm and last 1.5-2 hours each. Maximum 8 people per ride. Sign up by email to us or when you come to sign on in the main marquee.

Merida on holiday

Last weekend the Merida on holiday round took part in Bad Goisern, Austria. As in the previous three years we had a bunch of UK riders going over to see what riding mountain bike marathons in the Alps is like. If you were one of the riders going over please send us your story to [email protected] and we will publish it in the 2007 issue of the MTB guidebook which will come out next January. If the story is particularly funny and a great read we will be giving away some free entries to the 2007 Merida 100 series as prizes. For all the ones who have missed out this year don’t worry 2007 is already in planning. You will find a postcard with all the important info and the 2007 date in your signing on bag in Selkirk and Ruthin – so plan ahead and beet the rush!