Legends Of Mountain Biking Headed to Selkirk

The 2013 British MTB Marathon Championships, The Selkirk MTB Marathon and a cycling street party in Selkirk. On Saturday 8 June up to 100 elite cross country mountain bike racers from throughout the UK descended on Selkirk in the Scottish Borders for the 2013 British MTB Marathon Championships.

Joining former Olympians Oli Beckingsale (Endura MTB Racing) and Nick Craig (Scott Syncros Pioneer) on the start line was the 2012 British MTB Marathon Champion Lee Williams (Gateway Cycles), eight time winner of the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Rob Jebb (Team Hope Factory Racing) and Scottish cross country mountain bike legend Rab Wardell (Alpine Bikes Racing).

Among those fighting for the women’s title were the 2012 British Marathon Champion, Jane Nuessli (Fischer-BMC), the 2012 World Endurance Champion, Sally Bigham (Topeak Ergon Racing Team), Amber Southern (WXC World Racing), currently ranked number one in the UK and Rachel Fenton (AW Cycles), who will be determined to go one better after her second place British Marathon Championships performance in 2012.

All of the elite riders took on an 80 km single lap course that includes a fantastic mix of natural and hand-made singletrack, twin-track forest roads, ancient drove roads and some of the very best man-made trail centre routes at Innerleithen in their bid to claim British honours.

The British MTB Marathon Championships ran alongside the Selkirk MTB Marathon, where as many as four hundred ‘sportive’ riders took on one of three fully marked courses - 25km, 50km and 80km.  These routes passed through the valleys of the Rivers Tweed, Yarrow and Ettrick.