Name of event - Merida 100 MTB Marathon at Aviemore, part of ‘The Outsider' festival -Saturday 23^rd June 2007

Venue - Rothiemurchuse Forest, Cairngorm National Park near Aviemore, Scotland
Sport - Mountain Bike Marathon
Date of event - Saturday 23^rd June 2007
Website - http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/
Contact -  email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . or 0117 9040139 (Bristol office)
Price -  Dependent on distance

What's on

As if the high quality riding of Selkirk was not enough, there's a second Scottish event on the menu for this year's series in the form of the Aviemore Merida Bikes MTB Marathon, as part of the ‘The Outsider' Festival. What's that? Another festival combined with an MTB Marathon? Yep, you read right: but not just any sort of festival, but a wholly invigorating and entertaining one, all topped off with a heady dose of MTB Marathon riding. Lovely.

Aviemore itself has earned itself the reputation for being the Scottish equivalent to an Alpine resort in reference to its skiing heritage. Sadly now the snows are getting ever more erratic and unreliable but still the town's position as the gateway to the mighty and majestic wilderness tract that is the Cairngorms remains unaffected. And it is amidst the flanks and folds of the Cairngorm National Park where the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon and ‘The Outsider' festival will be based over the 22^nd-24^th June 2007.

The festival itself is a celebration of landscape, outdoor activities and fantastic entertainment with international artists performing on the main stage, theatre, chill out and club bar tents. The main event on the Saturday of the three day event will be the Merida MTB Marathon itself, with - in contrast to all the other events of the series - a choice of either 25, 45, or 65km distances on some of the UK's most scenic trails. Fittingly, on the Sunday there will the ‘Britain's Most Beautiful 12km run, if there's still energy in your legs. Plus over the whole duration of the festival there will be the opportunity to try a huge choice of other activities, from snowholing to mountaineering, wild food foraging and canoeing, there'll be something for everyone. Or, as Mike so eloquently put it: "This is great: it combines the interest of mountain bikers in not just doing a good ride, but music and food and lovely scenery in one weekend. And I can do the run on the Sunday too!"

But away from the biking and the running, there is also a packed timetable of entertainments including theatre, debate, film, lectures, and music, good food and drink and organic/ethical produce, loads of bike and sports related stuff, an environmental area, free guided mountain bike rides from the festival site together with free bike skills sessions for Merida Outsider entrants, plus the obligatory ‘loads more'. "I'm really excited about coming to this truly beautiful part of the UK and allying our event with international music acts," said Mike, "who alone are enough reason to travel half way up the country." It promises to be a unique and an incredibly invigorating experience and is a fine excuse to make the pilgrimage to the area where the Singlespeed World Championships will be held later in the year...

When

The Outsider festival takes place between the 22^nd-24^th June 2007, with the Merida Outsider MTB Marathon happening on the Saturday 23^rd.

Distances

Unlike all other Merida MTB Marathon events of the year, there will be a choice of 25, 45 and 65km distances.

Contact

To stay up to date point your browser to http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/ or contact the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series team on 0117 9040139 (Bristol office) or 01982 552923 (Builth Wells office), or e-mail This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . To find out more about the festival log onto http://www.outsiderfestival.co.uk/. For further information on other accommodation options please go to http://www.visitaviemore.com/ and http://www.visitscotland.com/.

Special Details

Tickets and entry costs differ to the rest of the marathons: to enter you must both pay £15 to enter the MTB marathon itself, but each rider/attendee must also purchase the relevant ticket(s) for The Outsider festival itself. You CANNOT take part in the Merida mountain bike event without having purchased at least a Saturday-only ticket for the festival. Please note that all Merida Outsider entrants buying Saturday-only festival tickets will also receive a complimentary pass to the festival for the Friday night. For more in-depth information regarding this please see the entry form, log onto http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/, or contact the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series team via the details above.