IT HAS BEEN announced that Llandovery will host the prestigious 2016 British Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon Championships.
This will be the first time in a decade that the event has been held in Wales, and it is claimed that the event will help to cement the county’s fast growing reputation as the cycling capital of the country.
Organised by A Cycling, the team behind the Battle on the Beach event, the Wild West event will be a one-off for this year and offers two distance options.
Both are based on a challenging 40km course entirely within Crychan Forest. Riders can expect lots of fast, rocky singletrack, great views and tough climbs.
The championship race, held over two laps will be a total of 80km with 3000 metres of climbing, with veteran and senior titles up for grabs.
Both 2015 senior champions, Sally Bigham and Ben Thomas have already entered and will be looking to defend their titles at the event on August 28.
Alongside the championship event will be an open format race, with no requirement for entrants to have a British Cycling license. The open event will have the option of 40km or 80km.
The event will start from Llandovery town centre before heading into the countryside and Crychan Forest, which will be closed to allow racing to take place completely offroad.
Event organiser Matthew Page said: “Having grown up in Llandovery and spent countless hours riding and training in Crychan, I am really excited to be able to bring such a prestigious event to my home town and my local trails.
“The challenging nature of the area should make it on a par with European marathon races and put the area on the map as a fantastic riding location.”
Matthew said that the large area of Crychan Forest and the low number of rights of ways made it possible to offer a timed event over a longer distance, which would otherwise be a challenge within current laws of England and Wales.
Expected to attract over 200 riders from around the UK, with other local riding hot spots such as Brechfa, Bike Park Wales, Brecon Beacons and Cwm Rhaeadr all less than hour away, riders can make the most of a long bank holiday weekend.
Carmarthenshire County Council’s executive board member for leisure Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “This is yet another prestigious event being hosted in Carmarthenshire, and our thanks go to Matt and A Cyling for their work in bringing it here.
“Carmarthenshire is well placed to become the cycling capital of Wales and this kind of event helps to showcase what our county has to offer.”
Entries are open now from £30, with places limited and only available online in advance.
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