The Mountain Races Podcast

Day 0: Prologue

We begin our race coverage in Antalya, where the Taurus Mountains rise straight out of the Mediterranean, for registration day at the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race. Ride

Welcome to the 2026 Taurus Mountain Race

Not long now until the start of the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race… With the route under wraps until 11th October and little known about what lies ahead, follow our race

SRMR 2026 Day 14: The Finish Line

The clock has finally wound down. After more than fourteen days, 2,060 kilometres and 38,000 metres of climbing, the 2026 Silk Road Mountain Race comes to an end on the s

SRMR 2026 Day 12&13: Come On Then

The race clock is ticking into its final twenty-four hours, and time has gone strange — seconds stretching into hours, hours vanishing in the blink of an eye. High on Ükö

SRMR 2026: Nathalie Schneitter, Women's Winner

Completing the 2,000-plus-kilometre course in nine days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, Nathalie Schneitter took the women's win and tenth overall at the 2026 Silk Road Mountai

SRMR 2026: Justinas Leveika, Men's Winner

Justinas Leveika is the overall winner, and first man, of the eighth edition of the Silk Road Mountain Race, finishing in 7 days, 16 hours and 56 minutes. In this episo

SRMR 2026 Day 11: To Laugh or Cry?

Kegeti Pass is one of the best mountain passes in all of Kyrgyzstan. Control Car 1 spent a gorgeous sunny day, catching riders as they make their way toward the summit af

SRMR 2026 Day 10: Tick Tock

Day ten of the Silk Road Mountain Race, and at Checkpoint 3 in Tamga the clock is running down on the back of the field — the general classification cutoff closes at 4pm,

SRMR 2026 Day 9: A Parallel Universe

Day nine of the Silk Road Mountain Race, and the cutoff for CP3 is looming. Riders arriving are salt-stained and the fatigue is setting in — peeling faces, wrecked lips,

SRMR 2026 Day 8: Where Is My Mind?

Day eight, and CP2 is now officially closed. The race clock is past halfway, the field strung out across Kyrgyzstan's high passes on the long haul to their third stamp at

SRMR 2026 Day 7: Everything At Once

Over a week into the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race, and the field has settled into the strange rhythm of life on the road: long days in the elements, time melting, an af

SRMR 2026 Day 6: Middle of Somewhere

Past Naryn and into the long, braided sweep of the Burkhan valley, the riders climb toward the Arabel Pass — 3,800 metres of loose switchbacks that has them off their bik

SRMR 2026 Day 5: All Over The Map

Nearly a week into the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race, and the field is all over the map. Checkpoint One at Son Kul closed on Wednesday with 146 riders inside the cut, wo

SRMR 2026 Day 4: Flat Out

As is so often the case in Kyrgyzstan and at the Silk Road Mountain Race… things rarely go to plan. We set out with the best intentions this morning to bring you all the

SRMR 2026 Day 3: Son Kul

Three days into the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race, we climb to three thousand meters and the still, impossibly blue shore of Lake Son Kul, where Checkpoint 1 sits waitin

SRMR 2026 Day 2: The Pendulum Swings

On the second day of Silk Road Mountain Race 2026 we set out early in search of the leading women. We hear from riders as they push into the Karakol Valley, as well as th

SRMR 2026 Day 1: A Dream Alive

The eighth edition of the Silk Road Mountain Race is underway! We hear from riders at the startline and on their way up the first long climb. For many this has been years

SRMR 2026: Day Zero

We begin the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race in Talas, a small town tucked in a green valley in Kyrgyzstan's far northwest, walled off from the rest of the country by moun

Welcome to Silk Road Mountain Race 2026

Silk Road Mountain Race begins 15th August, 2026 at 09:00 local time. Beginning in Tala and finishing on the shores of Issyk-Kul in Cholpon Ata, riders will embark on a r

HMR 2026: Cynthia Carson, Women's Winner

Cynthia Carson, women's winner of Hellenic Mountain Race 2026, fell violently ill on the opening hike-a-bike over Smolikas — what she calls the hardest thing she's ever d