Gatehouse and Galloway Forest Park has bagged Scotland’s first top level international gravel cycling race.
The town will host The Gralloch – the first ever event staged in the UK under the TREK UCI Gravel World Series.
The May 23 spectacular will see elite and pro riders from across the world take on a fearsome route through the Galloway hills.
Rhonehouse couple and Warren Sanders and Esther Tacke, who run Galloway Cycling Holidays, played a key role in securing the showpiece for the region.
Warren produced two route options for UCI – under instructions that whichever one is chosen they must be tough.
He told the News: “UCI have been asking for a while if somebody was going to pick up a UK round of the World Series.
“And when they saw what we had to offer they were impressed.
“Gatehouse and Galloway will now become one of the top locations for gravel cycling in the world.
“If we had not jumped in and got it Aberfoyle or somewhere else in Scotland would have picked it up.
“It really is exposure on a world stage.”
He added: “Dumfries and Galloway is the first council in Scotland to have a ten-year cycling strategy and plan.
“We are way ahead of everybody else – so kudos to the council for forward thinking.”
Esther added: “It’s absolutely amazing when everything comes together and everyone plays their part.
“I think it’s incredibly mind blowing and we hope that Gatehouse will be as pleased as we are.”
Warren designed the courses on a speculative basis and looked for the hardest routes.
He said: “They were put before UCI to see if they were happy – and they were.
“The brief was to make it as hard as possible – there’s 7,000 feet of ascent.
“It’s two laps of a 34-mile circuit and only 20 metres in on tarmac – from the Raiders Road exit at Clatteringshaws on to the Big Water of Fleet viaduct forest road.
“That’s the holy grail for the world’s best riders – a variety of surfaces, fast riding, massive climbs, massive descents – and as little tarmac as possible. Galloway has all that on offer.”
Media coverage from the three-day Raiders Gravel event at Gatehouse in August, which Warren and Esther helped plan, was key to making the pitch to
UCI.
The World Series is the Union Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI’s) highest level of gravel racing.
And The Gralloch is a full qualification event for the Gravel World Championships to be held in Italy next October.
The race will be organised by RED:ON and its co-founder Maximilian Wussler said: “We are hugely grateful to Dumfries and Galloway Council, South of Scotland Enterprise and Forestry and Land Scotland for their assistance.
“After organising Raiders Gravel in Gatehouse of Fleet last year we are certain the community will once again prove amazing hosts and build a fantastic atmosphere for all participants.
“We would like to thank them and the Gatehouse Community Council for their welcome.”
More information is at www.grallochgravel.com
