The Gravel of Marathon

The Gravel of Marathon brings the UCI Gravel World Series to Greece for the first time, on ground that gave endurance sport its most famous word. Riders roll out from the stadium in Marathon, close to the plain where Athenian troops faced the Persian army in 490 BC and where the legend of Pheidippides' run to Athens begins, with qualifying places for the 2027 World Championships on the line for those chasing them and a long day on dirt for everyone else.

The racing is centred on Lake Marathon, the reservoir in the hills of eastern Attica that supplies water to the Athens region. After a rocky climb out of town and a pass through the village of Grammatiko, the course circles the lake on a mix of stony tracks, soft lakeside ground, farm roads past greenhouses and a couple of shallow stream crossings, with a short, steep pitch in loose soil to test tired legs. The organisers built it with gravel bikes in mind, though mountain bikes are allowed.

It is put together by the team behind MBike, a Greek cycling media platform that has run the Athens Bike Festival since 2010 and already stages the Megalopolis Gravel Classic in Arcadia and the Amarantos Gravel Experience in the Agrafa mountains. On race morning there is also a short, flat family ride beside the lake, so friends and newcomers can share the atmosphere without pinning on a number.