Four expats in Romania passionate about cycling will organize a new mountain biking event called Maratonul Vinului (Wine Marathon), which will be held in the Romanian city Urlati. British Samuel Onn, Belgian Jan Glas and Dutch Richard Reese and Marco Kind, all cycling enthusiasts, have put together this new event. “We've all participated in quite a lot of the other mountain bike races over the years, starting in around 2005”, Samuel Onn, one of the organizers, told Romania-Insider.com. Maratonul Vinului will be held in Urlati, Romania, which is around one and a half hours drive away from Bucharest. The even will start on June 4, from 11,00 hours.

“We've been going to the area around Urlati to do mountain biking for at least five years now. It's the closest place to Bucharest where you can find some proper hills to climb, and the scenery is simply fantastic”, Samuel Onn added. "It's also an area much overlooked by people in Bucharest, who normally head to Valea Prahovei to do their mountain biking, so we hope our race will help promote the area for cycling and tourism in general in the area," he went on.

"As foreign cycling enthusiasts living in Romanian we've participated in a lot of mountain bike races around the country, usually far from Bucharest, and have watched the sport grow and grow over the years. The people organising these events have always been extremely friendly and positive people who give up a lot of their free time to make their events as nice as possible for the participants. So we'd always come away from a race with a good feeling, which eventually transformed into the idea that one day we should organise something similar, closer to Bucharest. A way to return the favour, you might say," Samuel Onn concluded.

Maratonul Vinului will have three different race categories: one for the family of up to 10 km, a 30- km race with 700 height metres and a 55 km race with a massive 1,400 height metres. For the 30 km and 55 km races, there is combined total of 300 places available for which the cost is RON 40 if paid by bank transfer until May 18, and RON 60 thereafter. The family race aimed for parents and children is free and there is no limit on the number of participants. All profits from Maratonul Vinului will be donated to charity.

While you will need your own bike to get into the race, the organizers are also looking at the possibility of bike hire for the event. The full details of how to register, the account to transfer payment to or any other information about the tracks or  the rules can be find on the website.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com