In North America, impressive trials of this type measure the hours in action, and the one who has done more kilometres wins, as long as it is during the specified time period, of course. On the other hand, there are mountain bike trials in stages that also call themselves marathonians, such as the recently concluded Titan Desert in the Moroccan desert, won in its third edition by route ex professional Roberto Heras.

According to this latest trial's organisers, which lasts five days, this is "the toughest marathon trial in the world". But, at the same time, the creators explain that one of the stages is specifically “marathon”, as the distance was of 130 kilometres and that in it no outside help of any kind is permitted, and the cyclist has to manage with what he has on him at that moment. In addition, participants don’t know the exact journey until the night before, and the use of GPS is recommended.

Championships

The marathonian spread we are living has caused the UCI to organise a World Championship, in place since 2003, and races that count towards the World Cup, since 2005; in 2007 one of them was Maspalomas, in the Canary Islands. Until now, out of five world championships contested, in the men’s, four have finished with victory in Switzerland –two by Thomas Frischknecht-, and in the women’s, the leader is Gunn-Rita Dahle, with three golds. In addition, since 2004 there are regional cups in Spain, and a national championship, which in women’s has been won three times by Catalonian Sandra Santanyes.

The question is that the MTB marathon is gaining strength, and if you are an non professional and you are keen on discovering different places around the Iberian peninsula or other areas, in a lot of them you will find a trial like these where you can spend your weekend and fulfil your passion.