Final Merida Marathon series in Ruthin

Michael from Merida writes…

The Merida MTB Marathon Series 2009 and the GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive Series have come to an end with an sunny and super busy finishing round in Ruthin, Wales. Nearly 1400 riders made their way to the Ruthin Rugby Club located just a few hundred yards from the busy center of the beautiful market town in North Wales. After a season of ups and downs on the weather front the final round was blessed with perfect riding conditions and all round great atmosphere.

GORE BIKE WEAR Road Sportive
The final round of the GORE BIKE WEAR in Ruthin saw almost 250 road enthusiasts sign up for one of the two challenging sportive courses on offer. Both routes took the riders out of historic Ruthin along the pastoral Vale of Clwyd towards the coast. The climbing started as the route went through the centre of Denbigh past its 13th century castle. From there it went up onto the mooreland above the town the route before cutting back to pass Lyn Brenig, famous locally for its fishing and watersports. Next stop Cerrigydrudion where the two routes parted company. The forty five milers headed back to Ruthin through Clawdd- Newydd. The ninety mile route carried on to Bala and its famous lake. Back to Corwen through the town centre and over the river before taking the scenic backroads towards Llangollen. Then came the final challenge, the Horseshoe Pass. Topping the final miles took in a descent of the Nant y Garth Pass before returning to Ruthin.

The first rider over the line managed to finish the 45mile course in 2 hours and 16 minutes while the last one finishing long course in 8 hours and 22 minutes.

Merida Bikes MTB Marathon
After the road event came to an end on Saturday afternoon the mountain bikers started to descend onto the event village at the Ruthin Rugby Club. Almost than 1100 riders picked up on the great weather leading up to the event and the promising weather forecast and made their way to Ruthin to enjoy the challenging courses around and over the Clwydian Range. The small amount of rain on Saturday night did not affect the amount of fun riders had on the four courses on offer and judging by the amount of mud on peoples bikes the rain only really dampened the dusty course down.

Thanks to everyone
With the 2009 season now being over and done with and Merida leaving the series as the long standing title sponsor preparations for the 2010 series are already in full flow. We will have once more 5 events starting in April going all the way through to September. We will hopefully finalize everything in the next few weeks and will let everybody know via our website, the newsletters and announcements in the press. We would like to thank once more our great sponsors in 2009 in particular Merida Bikes and GORE BIKE WEAR for their ongoing support. Further we would like to thank High5, Ergon, Lizard Skins, Schwalbe, MBUK, Exposure lights, the Bike Chain, Squirt, Buff, CrankBrothers, Fibrax, Fizik, USE, Topeak, CTC, PPG and last but not least the great skills coaches from Cycle Active. Above all we would like to thank all the riders who came to the 2009 event and who made them once more a big success. We hope that we can welcome you all again in 2010.

Ben Haworth

Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil. I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld. Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

More posts from Ben