Hope MTB Marathon @ Ruthin – rider numbers in decline?

After 11 years away from the MTB Marathons which I did a lot of (once Merida, now Hope) I did the Ruthin one yesterday and loved it.

It seems over the years that their popularity has declined significantly with about 280 riders yesterday compared to much bigger numbers (1000 ish) ‘back in the day’.

Why so few riders?

It’s not enduro/rad/gnar fuelled enough.

Always fancied doing one of these a while ago but never ended up doing the one I was signed up for! Wouldn’t mind giving it a go next year if I get my fitness up.

Badly advertised, poor PR.

Because I had no idea that event was still a thing. If I did, I might be tempted.

It’s also much broader than mtb marathon this year, lots of events both cycling and otherwise have been way down on numbers.

Too far for me – SW London to N Wales. I stick to the local races these days – Gorrick & Southern XC.

I didn’t see any mention of it and I’m not that far away

Probably if the had put ‘enduro’ in the title it would have been over subscribed

Ebikes are a big factor. People can’t/no longer want to pedal for miles.

Interesting points. I didn’t know cycling events on the whole have been down in numbers this year.

It’s a shame as the the volunteers working the event were great. A lot of room for improvement in the scope of the “event village” which was almost non existent but the marshalling was excellent. I’d have liked to have seen stands with merch available, quite fancied a new something or other.

Was good to see them embracing ebikes by allowing them in the event (except when they were gliding past as I was grinding up the hills haha)

If they slapped the moniker ‘gravel’ onto it then it’d be fully subscribed I reckon.

There does seem to be a bit of a split in mountain biking IMO.

Some wanting more hardcore now do enduro.

Some wanting more big natural old school xc have gone to gravel.

And others who want longer rides like the marathon type but maybe with a wild camp have gone bike packing.

And I’ve not even mentioned e-bikes.

I think it’s quite an exciting time to be an off-road cyclist, but more choose does seem to reduce the numbers for each discipline.

Never heard of it

How much does an entry cost nowadays?

Never heard of it

@bullandbladder I think it was £40

Took my 12yo Daughter and we did the Mini Marathon – 16’ish miles.

I’ve done them in the past when they were the Scott MTB Marathon.

Numbers were nowhere near what they were a few years back.

We’ll organised, but yeah the ‘event’ village was a bit of a let down.

Top day out,  a good laugh and a proper battering.

Never heard of it…. STW used to be a sponsor.

Lots of ebikes.

Too far from that London? Well there’s a round in Minehead.

Normally free camping Friday and Saturday night,

A choice of great routes.  Normally 25, 45 and 70 ish km

What’s not to like

What’s not to like

That mahoosive horrible climb at the start lol

That mahoosive horrible climb at the start lol

Yeah but then that mahoosive brilliant descent afterwards 🤠 yee haa!

Mountain mayhem and 2412 – two events I have ridden before – went the same way.

Covid and then lack of numbers did for 2412, not sure about Mayhem but think they had venue issues and numbers dropped, but may recall incorrectly.

Shame as these events can be good and have widened out – the last 2412 had enduros, kids races, shorter events etc rather than just the brutal marathon events.

It’s a shame for sure. I used to base my whole year around 2412 but when that stopped I thought I’d give this new enduro lark a go. £40 for a total of 11 minutes timed riding. I didn’t bother with a second one.

Also the gravel transition is true. I don’t know many that would do an mtb marathon anymore other than maybe the puffer as that’s still seen as a bit special , but I know plenty who want to do the Dirty Reiver etc.

Re the widening out, the mtb marathons when sponsored by Merida used to have a sportive on the Saturday and the MTB marathon on the Sunday but there was no sportive this year. There was the exposure lights big night out ride but there were only 25 riders on that.

Badly advertised, poor PR.

This. I’ve done the Ruthin one a few times BITD and really enjoyed it, but I wasn’t even aware they still existed. I’ve never seen a single mention of them for years so just assumed they were no longer a thing

Did the reduced numbers mean they avoided the usual horrendous bottleneck on the first climb?

Lots of events on at this time of year. I wanted to do it but already had something booked.

Why don’t they do a Peak District one anymore?

poorly advertised, I follow hope on facebook, insta not seen any mention of this event.

the holme valley (Holmfirth) mtb challenge was the weekend before 117 participants, again very low.

its my local event but its mainly tarmac, date didn’t work, but i’d have ridden it on my gravel bike..

MTBs have got bigger we want steeper and longer, although i do like a long day out exploring.

upcoming events

calderdale MTB marathon sowerby bridge sunday 8th October

Welcome

shepley/hudddersfield MTB challenge sunday 12th november

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-kirkwood-memorial-bike-trail-imo-katrina-cross-tickets-715301224217?aff=erelexpmlt

@binners It was fine where I was mid pack, and I remember the bottlenecks, I used to start as near to the front as I could to avoid them

There has been two Gravel event’s this year out of Ruthin !

Events like 24:12 and Torq in Your Sleep used to be great fun but they seem to have died a death.

24:12 seemed to go down hill rapidly after Martyn stopped organising it. Torq seemed to change the set-up during Covid and I’ve no idea if it ever returned to the original format. Gorrick’s regular cancellations and changes of venue a few years ago put paid to me racing them anymore as you never knew whether or not the race would take place.

It feels like there’s just a general lack of interest anymore in more grassroots XC or marathon races.

Bit of an odd schedule for the series on top of everything else – two in April, one July and then last week? Doesn’t build much continuity or enthusiasm if you did one in the Spring and liked it. Hope were also promoting a UCI cyclocross event at the weekend in Barnoldswick.

But there’s so much fragmentation of events nowadays, and ebikes have erased the bottom half of the field for stuff like this.

Events like 24:12 and Torq in Your Sleep used to be great fun but they seem to have died a death.

24:12 seemed to go down hill rapidly after Martyn stopped organising it. Torq seemed to change the set-up during Covid and I’ve no idea if it ever returned to the original format. Gorrick’s regular cancellations and changes of venue a few years ago put paid to me racing them anymore as you never knew whether or not the race would take place.

It feels like there’s just a general lack of interest anymore in more grassroots XC or marathon races.

The top two are coming back next year.  Gorrick venue arrangement is more stable now that MoD isn’t playing pandemic with the land they allow.

The main reason as a rider and in organisation is that entry profile has changed to “last minute” as people seek to avoid cancelled events, their Covid illness wasting entry money together with increased costs of the facilities needed leading to higher entry costs.    The reliability issues should be resolved, humans nature dictates we’ll start to trust event reliability again eventually.  And yes, the sport has broadened.  A lot of riders – me included – reverted to smaller, cheaper more accessible events to keep some stability and consistency within a training and racing program.    The Beastway, Southern XC and Gorrick events I took party in this year were all very well anttended.

What’s not to like

Finding any useful information on the Hope sponsored one’s website. It’s like they really don’t want anyone coming.

I’d never heard of it and looking through that website, I’m not much the wiser about what’s involved. The next forthcoming event is April 2023….

@kryton57 – 24/12 is coming back?

Loved 24/12, was the highlight of the year, the reason I’d be out in winter and killing myself in spin classes.

Haven’t found a replacement since.

I never really got into mtb marations but it felt like the rise of MTB marathon events matched the decline in Polaris Challenge.   A mass shift from one type of event to another.  Now it feels more like a stratification and  diversification.  There is a move to bigger distances – frontier 300.  Glorious Gravel now seem to occupy the marathon ground.  Gravel riders are as likely to have come through road biking as mountain biking. GPS tracks and mobile phone apps making navigation without big arrows a lot easier.  Allied to this is likely the availability of information on what riding is like.   People don’t need an event anymore.  Then there’s club / collective / gang rides being more of a thing.  More on that in the next print issue?  The move to enduro and riding harder stuff because over all rider skill levels and bike capability and lack of have gone in that direction.  It’ll be interesting to see if the rise of down country sees a return of mtb marathon.  Or maybe things just have their day.  Doesn’t look like the rise of gravel and more adventurous riding is translating into increasing MTBO participation and the return of Polaris.

I also recall that the chap behind the Hope Marathons died recently. That, and the knock to events from Covid have almost certainly not helped.

Sorry to hijack this post 😅 I’m one of the organisers at the MTB-Marathon Series. We had a massive dip in numbers last year no matter how much we advertised it on social media. At Ruthin we had a huge amount of people who’d entered but didn’t shop up. We’re open to any feedback and suggestions 😀 especially negative feedback as that will tell us where we need to improve

… no matter how much we advertised it on social media.

Did you advertise it anywhere else? I live about an hour from Ruthin and am on a couple of WhatsApp groups that share events like this, and knew nothing about it.

I use to love the Delyn but my riding has changed now. Prefer smaller groups and less structure.

I usually advertise it in any Facebook mountain biking groups that allow promotional posts like North Wales MTB and South Wales Cycling etc.

From London and its significant travel/time away from home so I stopped this during the pandemic when it became unreliable – not the organisers fault, and I did enter another time but became ill with Covid myself.    So for me long journeys, investment in training focused on major events like this and 24/12 which got cancelled, reliability of the venue, and then sudden unforeseen event non-participation became a thing I sought to avoid and continue to have done so, so I now defer to short more local and more frequently available events.

Apologies to the MTB-Marathon guys this is mostly not of your making and I’ve very much enjoyed your events of the past, just circumstance and some of which proves specific to me based on location I guess.

From the bits I’ve picked up on here and seen on social media there doesn’t seem to be as much around in the way of XC, endurance and marathon racing the past few years. Back when I used to race there seemed to be more events advertised.

The XC Racer website used to be the go to for events listings but it’s not been updated for years now.

Could STW not have a racing forum on here? Possibly an events calendar on the website where organisers can list their events?