We have just heard that for the 2021 summer there will be a new mountain bike marathon race that is heading to Pippingford Park in East Sussex for July 11th, 2021 with the Vittoria Mountain Bike Marathon race.
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It’s exciting news to hear that there will be a new race series this summer. Coronavirus aside, officially timed marathon races within England and Wales can be really difficult to organise due to certain rights of way laws that exist and this is probably at least part of the reason why this form of the sport has not taken off in the same way that they have on Continental Europe where it is significantly bigger.
We think the last time an official mountain bike marathon race was held outside of Scotland or on the Isle of Mann was way back in August 2016 when the British Marathon Championships was held in Llandovery, Mid Wales which our reviewer Matt organised himself. Pippingford Park is a venue known for great racing having hosted multiple mountain bike cross-country events and also a mountain bike marathon event many years ago so it will be great to see racing returning to the venue this summer.
The new race, sponsored by Vittoria tyres, will be a lapped format, each 18km in distance with the option to race 1, 2, 3 or the full 4 lap “Monster Marathon” which will mean 72km in total around the figure of eight loop course. There will also be the option of a pairs format with riders taking it in turns to do a lap. Expect a mix of singletrack, woodland trails, heathland crossings, gravel tracks and meadow paths.
The 2021 event will be organised by EventRex who sent us the details:
“We are thrilled to announce the birth of the Vittoria Mountain Bike Marathon, which is the result of 6 years of outstanding collaboration between Vittoria and Eventrex’ Southern XC MTB Series.
Vittoria have been a supporting sponsor of Southern XC MTB Series since 2016.
As both Vittoria and Eventrex have grown in stature it seemed only natural to persue an exciting joint venture and bring the Vittoria Mountain Bike Marathon to life. Currently, there is very little MTB Marathon racing in the UK and in particular the South East. Therefore, it is a great pleasure to announce the Vittoria Mountain Bike Marathon to be held at the beautiful Pippingford Park in East Sussex on 11th July 2021.”
Matt is hoping to be there himself to test himself on the Monster Marathon course!
Full details about the event can be found here: https://eventrexuk.com/mtb_marathon/
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