A new Mucky Duathlon for the Eliminator Weekender in Fife

Muckmedden Events, Eventfull Sporting Events and Parkhill Farm have teamed up to bring cyclists and runners, looking for their next achievable challenge, a new 30km off-road duathlon.  The Muckathlon will be staged on Saturday 24 June as part of the new Eliminator MTB Weekender Festival, from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 June 2017, at Parkhill Farm, Newburgh, Fife.

The brand-new ‘run-bike-run’ duathlon course is mostly off-road using double track around Parkhill Farm and the Fife Coastal Path and is open to solos, pairs and teams of three (in a relay). It will be perfect for novice off-road cyclists and runners looking to try a new sporting discipline within a fun and family focused festival programme; whilst also being formidable enough to challenge seasoned athletes looking to test themselves on an exciting new off road course.

For The Muckathlon, a self-supported race, the start, all transitions and the finish will be in the event village which means spectators will always be in the thick of the competitive action throughout.

The two 5km trail run sections traverse around the boundary of Parkhill Farm and down past the old fishing bothies on the banks of the River Tay with stunning views over Mugdrum Island to the Carse of Gowrie. The 20km bike course will be sandwiched between the run sections, more than 50% of which will be off-road on the reasonably isolated northernmost section of the Fife Coastal Path, adding to this fantastic adventure.  It skirts around Norman’s Law before returning to the event village via a quiet stretch of undulating public road alongside the River Tay, past the ruin of Ballinbreich Castle. The course features a good mixture of open field tracks that overlook the Tay, secluded woodland paths, with the odd stretch of singletrack thrown in.  There are some fun descents and some tough climbs throughout.

Organisers have estimated that participants will take between 2 and 4 hours to complete the 30km Muckathlon course.

The Muckathlon event will also include a separate race on a shorter course for kids aged between 6 and 13 years old. Leaving in age order with the eldest at the front of the pack, the Kids Mini-Muckathlon will begin with a “Le Mans style” 100-metre sprint to the bike pick up point. The race continues with a 2-3km cross country cycle featuring double track and single track trails around Parkhill Farm and The Eliminator’s famous “Crazy Crops” barley slalom, before culminating in a final 500m run to the finish line.

Aaron Gray, from Muckmedden Events, organisers of The Eliminator MTB Weekender Festival, said: “We’re so excited to be collaborating with Eventfull Sporting Events on our first Duathlon!  Nick [Kydd] from Eventfull and I have spoken a lot over the past few years about joining forces and organising an event which would appeal to our customer bases - runners, road cyclists and mountain bikers - so adding The Muckathlon to this year’s new Eliminator ‘festival edition’ just made perfect sense. 

“We feel we’ve come up with a great course that’s tough enough to offer even experienced duathletes a challenge, but still be achievable by less experienced participants who are perhaps looking to push their boundaries and test their all round fitness with something new. 

“Obviously being part of a weekend long festival means there’s so much more to The Muckathlon than just the race, so I hope people will stick around for the whole weekend and enjoy everything else that’s on offer.

“We are hugely grateful for the amazing support we have had for The Muckathlon and Eliminator MTB Weekender Festival from many different private businesses, community groups and public bodies including Fife Council and The Fife Coastal and Countryside Trust.”

For full information, Eliminator Festival schedule and to enter go to: www.muckmedden.co.uk/our-events/the-eliminator