Behind the world's longest races
13.04.2025
O & S Bistro under the lookout tower
Event time: 17:00
Organizer: Aš forests
Event type: lecture
Markéta Peggy Marvanová
reservation required 725 962 057
A 28-year-old native of Prague, a graduate of the Faculty of Physical Education at Palacký University in Olomouc, now a citizen of Šumperk and, above all, an ultrabiker. She has already completed many extreme events. At the age of 21, she completed the Tour Divide mountain bike race (4418 km from Canada to Mexico) and wrote her first book about it, The Journey to Happiness. Two years later, she won it in the women's category. She became the first woman to complete the 1000 km winter challenge beyond the Arctic Circle, the Lapland Extreme Challenge. She regularly organizes charity collections for her biggest challenges. Over the past 10 years, she has collected a total of over CZK 900,000 for sick children through her projects.
The lecture "Behind the World's Longest Races" will introduce you to bikepacking - extreme mountain bike races where not only speed matters, but also endurance, strategy and courage. Marketa "Peggy" Marvanová, a Czech ultrabiker, will open the door to a world where racers cover hundreds of kilometers every day with minimal sleep and equipment, without any support, at the limit of physical and mental strength.
Peggy begins her talk by reminiscing about her early days and the legendary Tour Divide, a 4,500km race across the USA. She also shares her winter challenge in Lapland, where she became the first woman to successfully complete a 1,000km race in extreme conditions. She then takes us to the Balkans, where she surpassed herself again in the Trans Balkan Race, and finally to Kyrgyzstan.
Peggy considers the Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan to be her most treasured achievement. On the 1,800 km long route, which led up to an altitude of 3,800 m above sea level, she faced extreme temperature differences. “In some sections you suffered from thirst from the heat, in others you put on mittens and down shorts,” Peggy describes. “The hallucinations made it more difficult for me to move than ever. For eight days I was functioning at the edge of my capabilities.”
Come meet Peggy and discover what it takes to succeed in races where limits don't exist. Peggy reveals the secrets of her preparation, strategy and mindset that have taken her to the top of the bikepacking world.
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