The final round of the Merida Mountain Bike Marathon Series 2009 and the Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive Series took place on the weekend of the 19-20th September where hundreds of riders were blessed with perfect riding conditions and a great atmosphere.
Gore
Sportive
Almost 250 riders saddled up for the road sportive on Saturday morning, ready to take on the 45 or 90-mile routes, through some of North Wales’s most picturesque countryside.
After heading out of historic Ruthin along Vale of Clwyd towards the coast, both routes then climbed past Denbigh’s 13th century castle.
The short course then took in Lyn Brenig, Cerrigydrudion and Clawdd-Newydd, while the long one also passed through Bala, Corwen, Llangollen and the HorseshoePass.
The first rider over the line managed to finish the 45-mile course in 2 hours and 16 minutes while the last one finished the long course in 8 hours and 22 minutes.
Merida Bikes MTB Marathon
The mountain bike marathon kicked off on Sunday with nearly 1100 riders hitting the dirt on the challenging courses around and over the ClwydianRange.
Four courses were on offer for the mountain bikers - the Mini Marathon (approx 25km) aimed at younger and beginner riders with around 850 metres of climbing; the Half Marathon (approx 50km) which made for a demanding ride across technical terrain with 1900 metres of climbing; Middle Marathon with 2550 metres of climbing (approx 75km) and the Full Marathon with an approximate distance of 100km and 3150 metres of energy-sapping climbing.
After a steep tarmac ride, the route entered the first forest section featuring singletrack and flowing trail. The 25km route then split off onto a singletrack descent, with the other 3 routes emerging from the forestry to a heather moorland onto technical singletrack which led into a fast descent.
The 50km route then split off while the 75km and 100km riders continued on an 18km loop predominantly taking in twin-track and road back to the feed station, where they rejoined the 50km riders.
After some more singletrack, dual track and the finest bridleway riding in the area, all the riders rejoined to make their way back to headquarters in Ruthin. Full results can be found on the Merida Ruthin results page.
For sportive and mountain bike marathon pictures go to the www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk website
And for more information on results and next year’s events go to the MTB Marathon website.
