Selkirk served up another cracking course (pic: Jon Brooke)

Five down, one to go. The Merida MTB Marathon Series 2009 is slowly coming to an end but the events are still going from strength to strength.

More than 250 road enthusiasts turned up to enjoy the fantastic roads around the greater Selkirk area. And this time there were not two but three distances on offer. The route took the riders through the Tweed, Yarrow and Ettrick valleys starting with a long yet gentle climb following the Tweed River upstream. But it wasn’t all easy going.

Our course designer Pete Laing had some ‘proper’ climbs up his sleeve to turn what appeared to be a gentle stroll into a real challenge. Each route made the most of the network of narrow hill roads linking the river valleys that the Scottish Borders is so famous for.

The climb tot-up for each distance is; 47 miles (4 climbs), 95 miles (8 climbs) and 120 miles (10 climbs). None of the climbs are Alpine in scale but only one is less than 100m vertical and if you check the course profiles, there isn’t a flat road in between, so the ascent total soon builds up.

The 120 mile route especially was a bit of a beast with 3600m of ascent. After 2hrs 25mins the first 47 mile rider came into the event village while the last 120 mile rider made the most of the day and took 8hrs and 59mins to complete the course.

The next and last 2009 round of the Gore Bike Wear Road Sportive Series will take place in Ruthin on the 19 September and will feature two excellent courses including the infamous Horse Shoe Pass. Find out more go to www.gorebikewearsportives.com/ruthin.php