‘A Better Version of Gravel:’ Why Gravel Fans Should Care about Marathon MTB Worlds This Weekend

“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>

Matt Beers, the South African powerhouse who dominated the 2024 Belgian Waffle Ride California and sits in fifth place in the Life Time Grand Prix series, has a bold message for gravel fans:

“Marathon is basically a better version of gravel.”

Beers isn’t referring to a 26-mile footrace. He’s talking about marathon mountain biking (XCM), a grueling discipline that is often overshadowed by cross-country Olympic (XCO) racing and eclipsed by gravel’s growing popularity. But this weekend, the UCI Marathon Mountain Bike World Championships take center stage — for the first time ever on US soil — at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia.

This year, the event will see top riders from both the XCO, XCM, and gravel world mingling on a remote backcountry course in the rolling hills of the southern Appalachian mountains. Paris Olympic medalists like Victor Koretsky, Jenny Rissveds, and Haley Batten will go toe-to-toe with gravel specialists like Beers, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Alexis Skarda, Cole Paton, Bradyn Lange, and Hannah Otto.

And for the latter riders, who are all part of the Life Time Grand Prix series, the event is a chance to race the discipline they favor most.

“XCM encompasses all the difficult elements of gravel racing and the technical skills needed for XCO racing,” said Paton, the US marathon champ. “And very rarely do we get to compete for a world championship on home soil.”

What is Marathon Mountain Biking?

Marathon mountain biking, or cross-country marathon (XCM), typically involves races between 60 to 160 kilometers (37 to 99 miles), covering a wide variety of terrain including singletrack, doubletrack, gravel roads, and pavement.

In terms of distance and terrain, marathon MTB often resembles gravel racing more than its faster cousin, XCO. However, technical skills are tantamount, especially on a course like Snowshoe’s.

According to Canadian gravel racer and marathon specialist Haley Smith, the crossover between the two is strong.

“Mountain bikers that have big engines have the ideal skill set to be at the absolute front of gravel races, so you can expect that people who do well in marathon events have the potential to kill it on gravel,” she said. (Unfortunately, Smith will not line up at Snowshoe due to ongoing health issues).

Smith, like Beers, is one of the riders who has performed strongly in the Life Time Grand Prix since it debuted in 2022. Although the series skews more toward gravel, with races like 200-mile Unbound and 100-mile Big Sugar Gravel as focal points, riders with mountain bike backgrounds have come out on top every season.

Nevertheless, it’s also a common sentiment to hear those riders lamenting the fact that there aren’t more marathon-style mountain bike races in the series.

“I find that marathon is pretty much gravel, just a lot more fun,” Beers said. “You’re on a mountain bike. It’s a little slower, a little bit more fun. You get to ride in nicer, more remote areas, not big gravel roads. I think it’s really cool — you cover a lot of distance, and in that distance you can get over some crazy stuff with today’s bikes.”

Beers built his career on marathon racing, winning the legendary Cape Epic three times before transitioning into gravel. But even after finding massive success in the new discipline, Beers is still a staunch marathon advocate.

Why Gravel Fans Should Tune In

This weekend’s UCI Marathon World Championships presents a great opportunity for gravel fans to glimpse into a discipline not so dissimilar — and, according to Beers and others, arguably more fun — than their own. The Snowshoe worlds course is a demanding 100km (62-mile) course with 2,275m (7,464 feet) of climbing, weaving through singletrack, doubletrack, and gravel roads.

According to Matt Beers, the course is “technical and quite janky” — one that he believes will be won by a “proper mountain biker.”

While the distance aligns with gravel racing, the technical demands are what set it apart. Gravel fans will recognize the endurance and strategy required, but the rugged terrain and technical descents demand an extra layer of skill.

Will XCO pros who are used to all-out 90-minute efforts on techy terrain be able to maintain power for upwards of four hours? And will gravel racers, who have the endurance, muster the skill to navigate technical sections?

The combination of distance and difficulty should push riders from both gravel and mountain biking backgrounds to their limits.

Despite gravel’s strong grip on the US imagination, Paton hopes that more people, both fans and riders themselves, consider marathon as another option.

“Gravel is the gateway discipline to distance mountain bike riding,” he said. “If you like gravel, chances are you’d like marathon MTB even more.”