The big-hitters of endurance mountain biking are descending on the island for British Cycling’s HSBC UK National Mountain Bike Marathon Championships this Sunday.

Nigel Morris and his hard-working team are hosting the one-day event under the guise of the Manx 100 for the third year in succession.

The women’s race will be hotly contested by Emma Atkinson and Ruth Miller, no strangers to the demands of long-distance racing.

Miller has been competing in the Southern Cross-Country series, while local rider Atkinson recently won the solo women’s 24-hour Longest Day Longest Ride.

Having suffered an early mechanical with her bike in the 2018 event, Miller will have learnt from that experience and will be keener than ever to take the race to the local woman.

With more than 30 men vying for the top step, many well-known riders will be seen duking it out over the Manx hills.

Olympian Grant Ferguson (Hope Factory Racing), currently racing in the UCI MTB World Cup, will be up against the might of Ben Thomas (Mountain Trax RT) and Joe Griffith (Torq Performance) who has won many a UK MTB Marathon event, along with multiple End2End winner Nick Craig (Scott Racing).

The Army Cycling Union team will also be looking to shake up the race.

Top locals include former professional MTB rider Elliot Baxter, roadie Leon Mazzone (who took in a lot of cyclocross events over the winter), Mark Harrison (Eurocycles) and Adrian Beale, a man who is no stranger to ultra-endurance mountain biking events.

Because a mere 100km is not enough for some, the Manx 100 and Manx 50, running in conjunction with the championship race, have more than 90 riders between them.

The 100 is for those that love ride-forever days as it certainly will be, consisting of 100 miles of glorious ups and downs.

Visiting females Helen Willis, Lisa Dent and Hilary Conway will be taking on the challenge in addition to 48 men.

Interestingly, more than half the riders in the 100-miler are veteran class or older.

The Manx 50 mostly consists of locals on what is the tail-end of the 100-mile course, but should not be fooled into thinking it is an easy option.

Top local women include Emily Looker and Jess Carriage, while the only non-local men are Eymard Brennan and Mike Darcy of Ireland.

Super veterans (over-65) John Qualtrough and Raymond Taubman are taking on the challenge this year in contrast to 19 senior riders at the other end of the age spectrum including Jake Barnes and Kevin Kissack.

The 100km non-championship race has enticed New Zealander Sam Leitch as well as many more from closer to home, not least superfast local fire fighter Alex Rockwell.

The 100km HSBC UK National Marathon Championships for men and women begin at 6.30am from pit lane at the TT Grandstand in Douglas, followed 30 minutes later by the Manx Championships over 100 miles and Manx Open (non-championship) 100km events. The 50km non-championship race will start at 2pm.

A total of 164 entries have been received. The 100-miler involves a huge 15,500 feet of ascent.