Henderson and Lane-Welsh snare 2024 Otway Odyssey victories
MarathonMTB.com
by Mike Blewitt
1M ago
On a day for the history books, the Otway Odyssey delivered another epic race of high quality, hard racing on Saturday 24 February, 2024 at the 18th edition of the event in Forrest, Victoria. The early starts saw the elite women onto the 100km course first, with a truly formidable line up. With World Cup star Rebecca Henderson returning to the event, all eyes were on the talented rider. But what about Zoe Cuthbert? Ella Bloor? Gina Ricardo? Courtney Sherwell? Samara Sheppard? The list went on – but as did the race. The elite men’s field was no less star-studded, with the likes of Sam Fox ..read more
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Santa Vall: Kickstarting the European Gravel Season
MarathonMTB.com
by Ben Thomas
1M ago
Santa Vall was the opening race of this years Gravel Earth Series, a series which defines what gravel should be, fast racing with an equal amount of fun and partying. The series has a total of 20 events with five headliners, which include The Traka in Girona Spain, The Rift in Iceland and Ranxo Gravel in Spain. Santa Vall took place over three days with, with a short prologue and two longer stages. After a big winter of training it was finally time to go racing again! After being hit pretty hard with covid in July last year and struggling to regain power and fitness through the second half of ..read more
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Top Australian talent ready for Otway Odyssey
MarathonMTB.com
by Mike Blewitt
1M ago
If you want a proving ground in the Australian endurance mountain biking scene, there’s no higher bar than a win, or even a podium, at the Otway Odyssey. The 18th edition of the Otway Odyssey MTB Marathon will take place on February 24, with the Great Otway Gravel Grind running on February 25. Event organisers Rapid Ascent have reported that 1800 competitors will gather in the small town of Forrest, Victoria, for the weekend of off-road adventures. Year on year the Odyssey serves up a testing course. It has evolved with time, running as a point to point in the early years, before finding a hom ..read more
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2024 Cape Epic route
MarathonMTB.com
by Mike Blewitt
6M ago
The ABSA Cape Epic is the brute of the marathon stage race game. Plenty of events will claim to be the hardest, some claim the best trails, some claim the best event services – but there is no escaping the fact that the Cape Epic is the biggest of the bunch. As we have published before, it is as hard as they claim, and it shouldn’t be underestimated. The twentieth edition in 2024 has just had the route released, covering 613 kilometres and over 16 000 metres of climbing from the Prologue in Lourensford to Tulbagh, followed by Wellington and on to the Grand Finale in Stellenbosch. “Over the ye ..read more
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Otway Odyssey returns for 18th edition in 2024
MarathonMTB.com
by Mike Blewitt
7M ago
If you think of mountain bike marathons in Australia, only a few come to mind as long-running events that still offer unique experiences for Australian mountain bikers or those visiting from further afield – and the Otway Odyssey is one of them. Event promoter Rapid Ascent have just announced that entries for the 2024 Otway Odyssey Mountain Bike Marathon and the Great Otway Gravel Grind presented by Focus, are now open. The events are scheduled to take place on 24th and 25th February 2024 in Forrest, Victoria. After a hugely successful event in 2023, entry demand should continue to surge, soli ..read more
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Appenninica MTB Stage Race 2023 – stage 6
MarathonMTB.com
by Imogen Smith
7M ago
The final stage Humans are great at forgetting pain. When we sign up for a stage race, we aren’t remembering the aching muscles, the stomach problems and nausea, the legs so swollen they barely fit into your jeans for the pasta party. We aren’t remembering that it’s not just the legs that hurt, but the arms, shoulders, back, feet, hands… and that’s if we haven’t crashed. But what we do remember is the sweet, sweet sensation of crossing the finish line and that’s what keeps us coming back. Today, the final day of Appenninica MTB stage race, brought riders within reach of those sensations, with ..read more
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Appenninica MTB Stage Race 2023 – Stage Five
MarathonMTB.com
by Imogen Smith
7M ago
I think it’s probably time I admitted publicly that I completely underestimated how tough Appenninica MTB would be, but after 5 stages and an average elevation gain of 2500m per day so far, this ranks among the toughest stage races I’ve done. It also has some of the best trails. Let’s pause a moment to appreciate how wonderful it is to be able to race our bikes on public lands, on ancient roads and trails that evolved far before bicycles were invented, but somehow offer mountain bikers endless flow, rocks, roots, and general points of interest that combine to make riding seriously rewarding. M ..read more
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Appenninica MTB Stage Race 2023 – Stage Four
MarathonMTB.com
by Mike Blewitt
7M ago
Everything I have heard about the Appenninica MTB Stage Race over the past years has been positive. From the food, to the hospitality of the towns, the event crew, the event vibe and of course – the trails. Today’s stage from Fiumalbo to Fanano has probably been the best example so far for the trails. Sure, the other stages have had great singletrack, carved into the hills over centuries of use. But today was special. On the dirt on Stage Four at Appenninica MTB Today’s stage took off out of Fiumalbo, straight into about 10km of climbing through the village, some fields, and then onto the stee ..read more
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Appenninica MTB Stage Race 2023 – Stage Three
MarathonMTB.com
by Imogen Smith
7M ago
Until just a few short hours ago, I believed that getting through the Queen stage of Appenninica MTB yesterday would leave me with smooth seas to sail right up until the end of the event. Imagine my surprise when I took a closer look at the profile for today’s stage 3 and saw that it was almost as long, almost as difficult, and was going to take nearly as much time to complete. While yesterday’s stage was a six-hour-plus affair for me, stage 3 would definitely be a five hour deal. Recovery was light on for the entire field of racers yesterday. The sad fact of stage racing is that while it take ..read more
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Appenninica MTB Stage Race 2023 – Stage Two
MarathonMTB.com
by Mike Blewitt
7M ago
Stage Two of the Appenninica MTB Stage Race dawned with some cloud cover, but a very upbeat and friendly vibe in race HQ. No doubt after the heat of stage one, everyone was happy for less intense sun as we took on the Queen stage, riding 90km and ascending 3200m from Castelnovo ne’ Monti to Fiumalbo. With the usual beats pumping from Radio Bruno’s decks at the start line, we took off in a chorus of SPDs being engaged, straight through the roundabout and up hill – a suitable theme for the day. While the front group weren’t messing about, they clearly were riding in a manner that would let the c ..read more
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