Does anyone know anything more that what is currently on the website?
In particular, does anyone know anything about the new course?
Seems to have been updated now. Course looks... pretty brutal, as does the average speed to make the cut off.
My maths makes it 9.5mph average for the first 85 miles, which will include nearly 20,000ft of climbing if AllTrails is right. Then you just need to do another 21+ mile lap with 4970ft of climbing to finish, ha.
Anyone else agree with my maths? Anyone else entered? Anyone else got any tips? Anyone else considering just going up North for a nice weekend in the sunshine and accidentally forgetting their bike?
I'm doing the marathon on the Saturday (lift available from near Edinburgh/Peebles on the Friday if anyone wants to share)
No idea about the course, but it's got the British 24hr there in October and this seems a good chance to check it out.
I haven't done such a short race for ages and haven't raced XC on a geared bike since 2016... This is going to be fast! Let's hope I can keep the pace up
I had originally planned to do the 100km this year, but a lack of fitness and the new route has put me off.
Aiming for 2023 now
Looking at the GPX at doesn't follow the tracks very well, in places where you'd not expect and extra sections to be, that said 7644 feet of climbing in a 22.48 mile lap is rather extreme.
Yeah, there are quite a few off piste sections deliberately put in to make it harder, apparently...
Barry rode the course and put the ride on Strava, looks like 21 miles and 3300ft. 3 laps for the nationals, 5 laps for the Sunday event. That seems more doable...
Well that was pretty savage. They reduced the race to 4 laps instead of 5, due to the difficulty of the course and the heat. My Garmin showed 32 degrees at a few points, so with the sun at your back and the floor bouncing heat back at you like a massive radiator, it was fairly unpleasant at times!
83 miles and 13000ft (and the conditions!) made it by far the toughest physical challenge I've ever completed. Seeing 1600ft of climbing within the first 5 miles - having done two descents! - was quite a shock 😅
I did the nationals on Sat. It was baking going up that hill. Got through 7 750ml bottles in just under 6 hours and still felt dehydrated at the end.
The course was great. Thought it worked really well. Looking at numbers it might have been better to drop the 100m and run the sportive slightly behind the nationals? Make it more of an event with more people riding.
100miles on that circuit would have been far harder than the original Kielder 100 back in the day (except the one where it rained and flooded!). Not sure there would have been many finishers in the time limit.
It certainly felt harder than the K100 but I'm ten years older..
The course was better than I feared. Its just a shame that they've never made put a decent trail down the top part of Deadwater.