MOTM26 was the second edition to start and finish at Llwyn Celyn, but it will be remembered for something else entirely. After a long, dry summer, at least five wildfires were burning on or close to the first 250 kilometres of the route. Three diversions were added the day before, and the briefing was interrupted by a government warning not to start fires, sounding from every phone in the room.
The diversions made for a faster, more tarmac-heavy start. Riders climbed The Tumble past firefighters refilling bowsers at Keeper’s Pond (and losing sausage rolls to a peckish sheep), before rejoining the route at Llyn Brianne. Jake Cullen and Mattijs Desmedt set the pace, tackling the rocky climb beyond Devil’s Elbow together as smoke settled over the hills.
Mattijs’s luck soon ran out though, with a wrong turn towards Builth Wells followed by his scratch not long afterwards. That left Jake, a Tour Divide finisher for whom wildfire diversions were nothing new, with a sizeable gap less than halfway round. Despite riding back for kit that had fallen out of his bag near CP4 and a bee sting to the lip on the final evening, he reached the finish on Monday night, 60 hours and 48 minutes after setting off.
Behind him, the fight for the podium went right to the wire. Ed Milbourn, navigating by phone after his cycle computer refused to charge, held on to become our first two-time finisher. The Parris brothers arrived minutes later to banners, whistles and chalked messages, becoming the first pair home and our first V-brake finishers – one of them on a bike that cost less than the entry fee. Callum Rae was just three minutes further back.
James Page and Jon Cox arrived that evening to become the first pair to complete the Triple Crown, despite a broken spoke, a detached crank arm and an unplanned descent off the wrong side of Hay Bluff. Penny Wilkin crossed the same hill in cloud and drizzle to become the first woman back in the early hours of Wednesday, as well as our first full suspension finisher.
Mike Heavyside, Pete Smallwood and Jon Riding arrived on Wednesday under sunshine and the occasional hail shower. Martin Gough, Kirsty Paterson and Aaron Hoyle completed the set either side of sunset – Martin with his shoe held together by a zip tie, while Kirsty and Aaron had survived on a packet of nuts for dinner after reaching Carno too late for both the pub and the Spar.
With 14 of 16 starters reaching the finish, it was our highest ever finish rate – remarkable on a route this rough. As predicted though, the first finish with dry feet remained firmly out of reach, drought or no drought.
