Mt Peel Mountainbike Marathon

The Mt Peel Mountainbike Marathon is back. Not the largest mountain bike race in the South Island, but certainly the toughest.

This is no soft mountain bike ride - the Marathon course travels over 85 kilometres of mountain terrain, including undulating, 4WD tracks, a tough 5000-ft climb, and an awesome continuous 25 minute downhill. It is a race that requires courage, technical skills and high levels of endurance, taking the fastest riders a good 4 hours to complete.

It is race that gets all weathers. In 2009 riders had to battle gale force winds, following two years of stunning riding. In 2006 the race was cancelled due to snow and riders rode an alternate Blue Mountain Gorges course.

There is a trophy and prize for the 1st female and male to the top of Coal Hill (the highest point in the race 1617m .

It is an awesome course. The weather and conditions can be a challenge up on top, but when it is clear there are magnificent views of the upper Rangitata River basin and the main divide including Mt Cook and Mt Tasman.

It Starts and finishes at the Peel Forest Hall, Geraldine, South Canterbury at 7.30 AM on the Sunday Morning. So get training and ride this NZ MTB classic. See you there.

Event listed by Chris Thomas

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