As we enter a new year, it’s time to look back on the events last year. As ever, it is the stories from the riders that stand out – often influenced by a logic that only makes sense when riding far, fuelled on carbs and short on sleep. From helpless livestock and bionic body parts to broken backs and unusual apologies, 2025 was a wild one.
With this in mind, our very tongue-in-cheek awards are below. Have a read through to be reminded of the weird and wonderful things that happened during our events last year.
Bangers and Smash
Chris Murkin
Over the years, we have seen countless riders dragging their bikes up Hardknott Pass – often regarded as the hardest climb in the UK. Others manage to inch their way up on the pedals, typically dancing out of the saddle while moving at barely walking pace.
Enter Chris Murkin at TPA25. Not one to conform to tradition – unless it’s the culinary kind – he attacked Hardknott Pass with a ferocity usually reserved for hill climbs. Staying seated the whole way up, he had our photographer scampering to keep up.
What was his secret? Bangers and mash, apparently. He stopped just before the climb to gorge on an enormous plate of this traditional dish. How it didn’t end up decorating the tarmac is a miracle.
Sleep Cycle Award
Laurence & Elizabeth Brown
One of the joys of being an event organiser is having to meet riders in the middle of the night as they roll across the finishing line. They arrive in total darkness, with no shops and cafes open and limited options for sleeping. It’s a bit of a harsh – and inconvenient – return to reality as they step outside the ultra bubble.
Clearly, Laurence and Elizabeth Brown were keen to avoid this. With less than 50km of riding remaining, their dots stopped in a secluded field. They stayed there for almost another seven hours – getting a very healthy sleep by ultra standards.
Looking refreshed and cheerful, they rolled across the line in morning sunshine. Their plan was to arrive once the coffee machine was fired up and sure enough they were sipping on a couple of hot coffees only minutes later. It didn’t quite have the drama of an 03:00 arrival, but it was infinitely more civilised.
Chunderbirds Are Go
Hashim Hassan
Riders say some wild things when they finish, but Hashim’s arrival at the finish of WWC25 is one that will stick in the memory for some time. He arrived elated, having battled sickness early in the ride and been on the verge of scratching.
Instead, he pressed on and gradually recovered, finding his legs again and eventually finishing in a very respectable time. However, on the finish line, we got more insight into his battles with sickness once we turned the microphone on to record some sound bites. He quickly proceeded to list all the towns and villages in Devon that he would like to personally apologise to for vomiting there. Heartfelt stuff.
Komoot Award for Exceptional Navigation
Mark Turnbull
Although our events are all fixed-route events, riders will still conspire to get themselves lost somehow. But they usually find their way back to the route. Therefore, it wasn’t until Mark Turnbull was an hour into a detour and following what appeared to be a footpath beside a river that we decided to give him a call and check he was okay.
He answered while apparently dragging his bike through a field of wheat, with his Garmin convinced that he was still following the route. It says a lot about the challenging nature of our routes that he also hadn’t questioned the inclusion of this hike-a-bike across farmland.
The end result of this saw him performing a huge loop back on himself, wasting a significant amount of time and energy as a result. But Mark recovered admirably to navigate the remaining half of the route using his phone, eventually finishing in first place.
Armbands in the Deep End Award
Joe Tresadern
“Given the tough and exposed nature of the route, we would not recommend entering if you have little experience riding off road.”
This is what our FAQ says on the Mountains of the Merfynion page. However, it appears to have escaped Joe’s notice.
Having finished TPA22 and WWC23, he signed up for MOTM25 knowing that he could secure the Triple Crown. During conversations prior to the start, he was vague about his off-road training for MOTM25. However, a couple of hours into the ride, he stopped to chat with roving reporter Nadia:
“Don’t tell Rob, but this is going well for my first gravel ride.”
Oh Joe. Nadia of course immediately told everyone. But despite this lack of experience – itself an understatement – Joe actually coped with the challenging route remarkably well. He made it back with plenty of time to spare, showing impressive adaptability and falling off his bike surprisingly few times.
The Digital Detox Award
Michelle Lindley
The second recipient of this award, Michelle has the dubious honour of winning it for exactly the same reason. During the first night of MOTM25, she managed to lose her phone while riding, dropping it on one of the rocky off road sections.
Despite the loss of this invaluable piece of kit, she pressed on and continued to make good progress along the route. Eventually, Michelle finished in 5th place overall, coming home as the first woman – all the more impressive given she was riding blind from the first night onwards.
(We are now changing the rules, so this is hopefully the last time we will be handing out this award. Due to safety concerns, you will now be required to replace your phone at the earliest available opportunity. The stress of following Michelle’s dot proved too much for us last year…)
Kneed for Speed
Alli Holland
Alli Holland is made of different stuff to the rest of us. Quite literally. She has artificial knee replacements in both legs.
Despite this, she completed WWC25 in just 51 hours and 32 minutes. Incredibly, this was faster than when she rode WWC23 – before her knee surgery. To top this off, she secured an 8th place finish and was the first woman back again.
We chatted to Alli during WWC25 about her new knees. You can listen to that here.
Back in Action Award
Colin Smith
There are plenty of things that can derail training for an ultra, but breaking your back is certainly one of the more disruptive options. In fact, you might be excused for deciding to indulge in some light cafe rides instead of an 800+ kilometres epic around the south west.
Colin Smith is clearly made of something different to the rest of us mortals, however. Not only did he start WWC25 still recovering from a broken back and having barely been able to train, he somehow managed to push a ridiculous pace throughout.
He ended up finishing in 4th place, after just over 45 hours of riding. This time would have been good enough for a podium place at any previous edition. Just think what he could have achieved with an intact spine.
Don’t Lose Your Bearings Award
John Barnes
When you spot a rider walking their bike and searching the bracken, it is never a good sign. This was how we found John Barnes on the first section of off road during MOTM25. His hydration tube had caught in his wheel, jamming things up and needing the wheel to be removed to free the mangled tube.
Whilst doing this, he had somehow dislodged the hub endcap, only noticing once he set off again. What followed was an hour-long search along a stretch of bridleway that cut through deep bracken. Eventually, he found the endcap and was able to resume riding.
At this point, he was in last place, but over the following three days he gradually ticked off the riders ahead of him. Eventually, he made it back in third place – a remarkable comeback after his ride nearly ended on that first morning.
The Ethical Ewe-turn Award
Laura Massey-Pugh
Problem solving during an ultra is all part of the sport. However, typically the problem at hand has either two wheels or two legs. When it has four legs, no wheels and doesn’t speak English, the situation is a bit more complex.
This is exactly the problem Laura Massey-Pugh faced early on during WWC25, when she found a young lamb trapped in a fence along the route. Fortunately, as a former vet, she was ideally suited to the task at hand. She liberated the lamb with swift efficiency and was back to riding her bike moments later.
The Brangelina Award for Writing
Robbie Britton
For the first time ever, we’re giving an award to someone other than a rider. However, Robbie’s DotWatcher commentary during WWC25 provided a huge amount of amusement to riders, dotwatchers and the team alike.
In particular, his choice of “J.Pox” as a portmanteau for pair Jon Cox and James Page was weirdly disturbing and certainly unnecessary but also hilarious.
He even managed to actually write about some things that happened during the event this year, alongside spending time calling me an “over-used Stretch Armstrong doll” and a “retired children’s climbing frame”.
