World Championships MTB Marathon (XCM), 6 Aug 2023

In the weeks leading up to the event I had ridden the course and I was really looking forward to racing it. The course had everything a MTB XCM course should have: long steep climbs and fast technical descents. The route was 96km long with 3241 m of climbing; it really was either up or down. 

It rained in the days leading up to the event so tyre choice was the big question. It was going to be muddy in parts but there was also a long section of road and the last part of the course was on hard compact trails. I ended up going for a tire better suited to the latter. 

On race day I arrived at Traquair house for the start of the race. i got warmed up then headed into the pen for gridding. I was gridded 54th, which was near to the back as I didn't have many UCI points, but with the long day ahead there was nothing to worry about. The beginning of the course was nice and wide to move up and there was a long climb a few kilometres into the course to thin the group out.  

I'd unfortunately come down with a bit of a cold and found the first climb really tough. I just had to keep telling myself it was going to be a long day and that I had to ride at my own pace. I quickly found myself drifting off the back of one of the many groups that had formed. The course got to a super steep single track climb and I could see that already the field had spread out massively. The top of this particular climb was quite tricky and I could see people having to jump off and push up, i just about managed to make it up and close the gap to another Brit. We worked well together into the headwind and along a fast section of fire road. I got to the 1st feed in 41st place and there was another group just up the road in the distance. We had also gained a French rider and another Brit to work with. By this point on the course (70km to go) my legs started to come around and I was feeling more like myself. The French rider was a really good climber and I managed to stick with her up the long twisty climb and reduce the gap to the pair in front, up the climb we lost the two other Brits so it was just the French rider and myself trying to close the gap to the pair in front. After a bit of a fire road we got to a super fun single track descent. It was here I managed to fully close the gap to the pair in front so now I was in a group of 4. 

There was another tricky descent leading into feed number 2 and I got a bit of a gap on the other I was riding with. I knew I was going to be faster riding with them than solo so took the opportunity to get some extra food and bottles at feed 2 so I had plenty of fluids to get me to the next station. I got to the halfway point in 39th.  For me the next section of the course was the toughest. It was a long climb that constantly changed gradient and terrain. I struggled finding a rhythm and lost contact with the group I was with. I knew there was a super long technical descent following the climb  and that I was quicker down the descents than them so I just needed to keep the gap as small as possible. I managed to keep it small enough and catch them back up on the descent - I was very happy about this as this is where the long section of road started. I went through the third feed still in 39th. The little group i was in worked well together along the road. We turned off the road and began to climb up the moor into a head wind, i knew at this point i had to give everything to stay in the group up the climb. Not only could I then stay sheltered from the wind, it was the last open section on the course before we headed into the trail centre. I dug deep to stay with them up the climb and went into a descent 2nd wheel, on the first bit of the descent we lost two riders and it had also started raining heavily. The next section of the descent was very rooty and I didn’t want to follow into there so I put in a bit of a sprint to get past. I managed to get a gap and also catch another rider that had been out in front of us by quite a way and I went through the last feed in 36th.  

Exiting the third feed is where the final climb started. It began gently and got steeper and steeper as it got closer to the top. My glasses started to fog up with the rain and that combined with the mud splatters on them meant I couldn't see out of them so I took them off, but then couldn't see well due to mud going in my eyes. I got to the top of the climb and knew there was only one last descent between me and the finish line. I got down the descent and crossed the line in 36th place in a time of 6:23:14. 

I had so much fun out on the course suffering with some of the very best. I achieved my goal to finish higher than my gridding place so it definitely was all smiles and I already started planning what XCM events I'd like to do next year.

Kim Baptista