Between the Tape

Australia has seen great success in cycling disciplines from road to BMX – and also from our own little dirty corner of the sport. We’ve had world champions in downhill, on multiple occasions, and great success in cross country, 4-Cross and recently enduro. Aside from the success, all these disciplines have seen a good number of Aussie riders head to Europe as privateers and slug it out mid-pack, while ‘living the dream’, and hoping of one day making it.

But there is one MTB discipline that has been a tad neglected in the eyes of Australia’s elite mountain bikers. And that is marathon - the art of going full gas for a lot longer than you want to go full gas! In Australia, the marathon racing scene is reasonably strong, with a well-contested national series and championship event as well as a range of standalone races and awesome stage races.

These events see a loyal following of elites chasing the tape around the country throughout the year. Marathon purists base their season around getting a big win or top 10, while XCO racers come and go, often using the marathon races as tough training sessions. This pattern continues overseas with some XCO racers fitting in European stage races and marathons around their World Cup calendar.

However, very rarely do Australians target European marathon events on a consistent basis. The Marathon World Championship usually features a handful of Aussie racers, but there are many other races that are seemingly ignored throughout the season. There is even a UCI Marathon Series, a collection of races that have been granted UCI status, as well as a handful of major stage races that also offer UCI points, which are a big drawcard for XCO racers during the season. With all these options available, it seems amazing there isn’t more interest in the discipline.

So, why don’t they race?

This question hit me during the 2017 Alpen Tour Trophy in Austria (pictured above). The race was amazing, with epic climbs through the Austrian mountains and technical singletrack that would put some XCO courses to shame. Other long distance races in Europe also have this sweet ingredient list and it really made me wonder why people don’t focus on this discipline as feverishly as XCO. Why is such a priority placed on racing the XCO World Cup circuit?

Financial rewards are probably about the same, with XCO possibly nudging slightly ahead. It’s fair to say that XCO is more popular thanks mainly to Redbull TV’s live coverage, although marathons could likely get the same interest if they were televised. And in terms of participation, marathon wins all day - you just have to look at the 2000 strong field of Australia’s own Cape to Cape to see that. So why the obsession with XCO for elite riders? Well maybe it’s all about the ‘O’ on the end, standing for ‘Olympic’. The Olympic Games, a 90-minute slot of race time every four years, with a spirit that endures in the meantime. The Olympic dream is strong for a lot of athletes - as shown by cyclocross phenom Mathieu Van der Poel and his decision to prioritise mountain bike gold in 2020 over his CX and road career. His choice has been made in part from the fact that cyclocross is not an Olympic discipline, the same fate of the marathon discipline.

But not everyone is mesmerised by the Olympic dream. Only very recently, the news broke that Hans Becking of the Brentjens MTB Racing Team, a rider with multiple top 20 results during the 2017 World Cup XC season, would be switching to marathon racing.

He has dabbled, with success, in the marathons and has gone on record as saying that he was influenced by the introduction of the XCC race at World Cups and the lack of race options in XCO. He has also admitted that going out and doing five hours in the mountains is a lot more enjoyable than what he was doing previously.

I do wonder if those factors will also influence other elite riders, especially Australian racers, to choose marathon and stage racing over XCO in the future. It’s a growing discipline that may lack an Olympic gold, but offers more racing options, is more dynamic and doesn’t just rely on a good grid position to do well. Maybe the increase in race options will see XCO racers, at the very least, dabble more in the longer game.

For myself personally, having got a taste of some marathon events alongside my XCO racing, I still prefer smashing it for one and a half hours. I love the technical nature and fast-pace action of XCO, but I do wonder if my decision would be different if I didn’t have the carrot of an Olympic gold to chase.