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LaTramun, chequered flag on the 2019 season

Oct 15, 2019
4 min

LaTramun, chequered flag on the 2019 season

LaTramun, bike racing heaven? This Girona based event has grown a reputation as the singletrack marathon, the course starts up a stinking great big road climb before continuing onto a steep gravel and rock ascent. From there the fun begins with a 60+ kilometre ribbon of singletrack, some trails you'd whoop for joy, others you'd weep for how challenging they were! Celebrating its 20th year anniversary the event organisers remain passionate and have already secured the race’s f

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Ben Thomas

Oct 9, 2019
5 min

Party time at Ruta Paterna BTT

I came to Ruta Paterna to win my first UCI World Marathon Series round but this is mountain biking, anything can happen. Within the first 15km I suffered 2 mechanical issues, I could have given up and not finished the race or left Spain disappointed. Instead I leave Spain satisfied and motivated having recovered to still finish 10th, not an easy achievement in a race of this level. This race would be my first in the British Champions colours, thanks to Kalas Sportswear for th

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Ben Thomas

Jun 19, 2019
5 min

Podium Highlights - Alps Bike Festival

Ask me my highlight from 2018 and I'll tell you Alps Bike Festival, driving back into La Clusaz this year I was already smiling. This typical French mountain village nestled below the snowy peaks of the Annecy Mountains is becoming a summer playground for mountain bikers and families. The summer season might be another month away but the chair lifts are open and its beginning to get busy. Alps Bike Festival is the first big summer event of the year. Over 3 days there’s the U

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Ben Thomas

Oct 18, 2017
3 min

LaTramun Singletrack Marathon

LaTramun brought Girona to the centre of attention this past week. Participants from various countries travelled to the Catalan region for this beautiful event. The race is known for its amazing scenery, unique landscape and technically challenging course. The city of Girona realise the events importance which is why they apply for the event to be part of the UCI World Marathon Series. The main event is the 68km marathon with 2100m ascent and 2500m descent. There is also a 33

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Ben Thomas

Oct 12, 2017
3 min

Roc d'Azur End of Season Party

Last weekend it was time to celebrate 2017 and 20,000 people came out to party. Roc d'Azur once again hosted the end of season get together with 5 days of events. This would be my fourth visit to sunny Frejus on the stunning French Riviera. After being ill I wasn’t in a position to compete at this year’s Roc d’Azur so the pressure was off, I’d be on the start line but there would no front group like the last couple of years, instead I was here to enjoy the trails and atmosphe

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Ben Thomas

Sep 24, 2017
4 min

Spectacular Racing In the Azores

It's always a thrill when you get to visit somewhere as amazing as the Azores, the island of Sao Miguel has hosted a round of the UCI World Marathon Series since 2015. There is so much support for the event from the local community, these islands put a lot of effort into attracting tourists and making sure those tourists will be back year after year. Sao Miguel is the biggest and most populated of the 9 major Azores islands which are situated mid Atlantic. The islands landsca

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Ben Thomas

Aug 19, 2017
1 min

Reflections on the Grand Raid

Grand Raid BCVS is arguably the biggest one day classic in mountain bike marathon racing. It’s an event I’ve always wanted to compete in, 125km from Verbier to Grimentz with over 5000m of ascent through the beautiful Swiss mountains. This year was the event’s 28th edition. I don’t get nervous about too many races but this race has such a big buzz about it, I was pumped up with adrenaline! Read about the race that nearly killed me here http://marathonmtb.com/2017/08/23/grand-r

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Experiencing World Marathon Championship

Ben Thomas

Jun 25, 2017
4 min

Experiencing World Marathon Championship

It’s always an experience racing World Championships and this year was no exception. On Thursday British Airways cancelled our flight, we were so close to not making it to the start line but flights rescheduled for Friday we were on route to my 5th Worlds. Over the years I’ve moved up from a starting position on the back rows where you can barely see the start line it’s so far in front to now being gridded on the second row with race number 18. Over the years we’ve visited th

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Charging in Czech – Malevil Cup UCI Marathon

Ben Thomas

Jun 10, 2017
3 min

Charging in Czech – Malevil Cup UCI Marathon

5 years ago Malevil Cup hosted European Marathon Championships and every year since has hosted a round of the UCI World Marathon Series attracting racers from all over Europe. It's a championship worthy event with some amazing trails, kilometres upon kilometres of rooty singletrack and wider faster rocky tracks winding their way through the big rock formations of the Lusatian Mountains. After racing the European Champs here as my first international marathon I have fond memor

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Polished Performance – Jelenia Gora UCI Marathon

Ben Thomas

Jun 4, 2017
3 min

Polished Performance – Jelenia Gora UCI Marathon

Eastern Europe has an abundance of quality races such as Bike Maraton Jelenia Gora. MarathonMTB are big fans of the racing here, it's about time the delights of racing in Poland and Czech Republic where better known. Technical testing trails, nice scenery, slick organisation, easy to use website stocked with essential information, well-marked courses, good hotels and local infrastructure are all key attributes in determining a successful race. Several organisers in Poland and

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Ben Thomas

Apr 9, 2017
2 min

Roc Laissagais: A Picture Postcard

Almost a year on from UCI World Marathon Championships the top marathon racers returned to Roc Laissagais, the first European round of the 2017 UCI World Marathon Series. This year was the 26th edition of the event and there was a variety of distances available for all ages, disciplines and abilities. The kid’s races are well attended in France so it’s a great place to bring the whole family for a race weekend. Aveyron is also a great tourist location with picture postcard vi

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UCI World Marathon Series – La Forestiere

Ben Thomas

Sep 25, 2015
3 min

UCI World Marathon Series – La Forestiere

My season will finish up with 3 rounds of the UCI World Marathon Series spread over 4 weeks. The first of these was held in Arbent, France which is in the Jura region. This round was part of La Forestiere which is a mini cycling festival with a packed schedule of events over the weekend including road events on Saturday. It was my first visit to the event and was surprised how easy it was to get to. Having flown from Heathrow to Lyon it was a short 45 minute drive to Arbent w

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UCI MTB Marathon Series Tiliment Bike Italy

Ben Thomas

Apr 29, 2015
4 min

UCI MTB Marathon Series Tiliment Bike Italy

This weekend the second European UCI Marathon World Cup of 2015 took part in Spilimbergo, Italy. Part of the Tilement Bike Marathon the UCI race would cover 2600 metres of climbing over 104 kilometres. I travelled out to the event with Scott UK team rider Mel Alexander who was racing her first UCI Marathon. After flying out to Venice airport Friday we had plenty of time Saturday to practise about 40km of the track including the first real climb. It’s fair to say that after th

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