Gravel Birds 2024

All the birds are now safely back at the nest in Castro Verde and are having a well deserved rest, and maybe a beer or two!

Fergal (35) arrived this morning at 6am and must be very pleased to complete the course this time around. Joao and Jose (58 & 59) became the 3rd pair finishing at 11am. This afternoon Nuno (21) made it back documenting a busy day contending with both pig and sheep traffic jams! Marcel (63) finished an hour after him. Gabor (9) was the last solo bird to finish, after Hang (11) unfortunately missed the CP3 cut off time with a mere 6km still to go! Final riders and pair, Christine and Roland (54 & 55) finished at 1700, closing the event. Well done to all!

The Gravel Birds have been bathed in sunshine and good vibes from start to finish. To round things up here are some fantastic statistics from this event’s second year.

• Riders: 101
• Women Riders: 17 (only 2 last year)
• Women Finishers: 14 (none last year)
• Scratch rate overall: 13%
• Women's scratch rate: 17%
• Fastest time 750: Marco Martins, 1 day 13 hours and 53 minutes
• Fastest Woman 750: Hanna de Sousa, 3 days 7 hours and 55 minutes (16th overall)
• Fastest Pair 750: Bruno Fernandes & Gualter Peixoto, 3 days 7 hours 25 minutes
• Fastest time 270: Doug Ennis, 13 hours and 1 minute
• Fastest Woman 270: Vania Vilaca, 14 hours and 42 minutes (2nd overall)
• Fastest Pair 270: António Magalhães & Rui Martins, 1 day 9 hours and 22 minutes

More women entrants than ever before! More women finished than ever before!

A huge well done to all the riders, volunteers, race organisers and everyone else involved in putting on this amazing ultracycling event. I've really enjoyed being Gravel Birds Ultracycling's dot reporter and hope you've enjoyed following along too! Until next year.

Four solo riders and two and a half pairs remain on the course. All have reached CP3 and gained another bird stamp!

Third place is still in contention for the pairs. Jorge Rolo (57) scratched at CP3, whilst his other half Ismael Masero Perez (56) continued to the finish.

Joao & Jasper (58 & 59) and Christine & Roland (54 & 55) ride on with 50km between them. Marcel (63) flies solo, with other half Corazon (62) also having scratched.

Irish Fergal Treacy (35) should be very proud of his efforts and looks set to finish the course this year, having scratch at 200km last year. Also making great progress are Nuno (21) and Gabor (9), who appear to be enjoyig themselves and taking in the spectacular scenery.

Hang Io (11) brings up the back of the pack and has just reached CP3, nice one! It's 145km from here to the finish line.

The 750km Women's podium is now complete.

1. Hanna de Sousa, cap no. 37
2. Anne Schulze, cap no. 4
3. Ana López García, cap no. 33

It looks like Ana, Anne and Lisa raced each other into the night to make it back to Castro Verde. Anne managed to arrived before the others, at around 01:45 this morning. Ana, who had maintained 2nd place since Porto Covo, was passed 40km before the end, finishig just 30 minutes behind. Lisa narrowly missed out on a podium spot by around 20 minutes. All look to have had an amazing adventure.

There are still eight solo riders and four sets of pairs out on the course. Hang Io, cap no. 11 is our 750km lantern rouge. From her social media she seems in good spirits and determined. A bird dive bombing her saddle whilst she was resupplying would be seen as a sign of good luck, in Scotland anyway! Also how cool that the check point stamps that you collect along the way are of different birds.

Keep flying Gravel Birds!

As the sun sets on day four, the birds continue to fly in. At time of writing 28 Gravel Birds have landed on the 750km route, including the fastest woman and two sets of pairs. Taking 2nd in pairs category are Luis and Goncalo (60 and 61).

Elated fastest woman, Hanna de Sousa, also becomes the event's first ever 750km woman finisher. Hanna finished 16th overall this afternoon, covering an average distance of 220km per day. Only two women started last year's inaugural event, unfortuantley neither finished. So far this year ten women have finished from the two routes, with more still out there. A fantastic effort from the women and a great success for Gravel Birds Ultracycling.

Of those birds still out there the sand sections seem to be slowing some riders' progress. Ana (33) remains 2nd women (50km form the end) and currently has an 8km lead on Anne (4), with Lisa (17) not far behind. Surely these riders will ride on into the night to finish? Or will they find a place to rest their heads for a while, before a final push? It seem that it's all to play for in the Women's podium race! Good luck to all the Gravel Birds adventuring in the Alentejo tonight.

Flying into Castro Verde just this second, Triathlete Hanna de Sousa, cap no. 37, becomes the fastest women to complete the 750 course, in a time of 3 days 7 hours and 55 minutes. Well done Hanna, fantastic effort!

Half an hour earlier our first pair, Bruno Fernandes and Gualter Peixoto (52 & 53) arrived at the finish line, having had a strong 2nd half to their adventure. Time for some well earned rest.

Race organisers report cooler temperatures today for our riders, as cloud cover provides some respite from the sun!

Oi Gravel Birds!

The top ten was complete as Day three came to a close. Carlos (5) arrived at 20:30, followed by Sergio (50), Tobias (31) and Morten (20), making it home before midnight. A few more birds flew in, arriving in the early hours of this morning, cap no. 34, 16 and 12.

We should expect our first women finisher today, Hanna (37), who is riding consistently and having passed CP3 is about 100km from the end. Anna (33) remains the closest woman (65km out from CP3), having a 10km lead on Lisa (17).

Leading pair Bruno and Gualter (52 & 53) have now gained a 100km advantage on the next pair. Flying along at the rear of the flock Corazon and Marcel (62 & 63) have covered 350km of the route and are approx. 80km from CP2.

Unfortunatley Michael Arnold (44) and Joao Machado (39) have had to scratch.

This event climbs higher and higher on my 'to do' list the more images I see and stories that I hear. It would seem Portugal is the place to be. Head over to gravelbirds.cc to check it out!

Congratulations to our final L'Abetarda riders Clarissa, Marta and Nuno who are now safely back at the nest in Castro Verde. All three appear to be in great spirits and are a testament to this event's goals, encouraging inclusive bikepacking and most importantly having fun. Nice one Gravel Birds Ultracycling.

Three hours later Perseu (25) arrived taking the highly contested 4th place, narrowly out flying Christian (6), who takes 5th. Peter (26) landed an hour and a half later. Very well raced birds, the battle for 4th place appears to have been a tough one!! Did last night's sleep strategies influence the dots today?

Good morning Gravel Birds!

Joao Pinto becomes the second finisher of the 750 route, after cycling into the night he arrived back in Castro Verde around sunrise today.

Rui Pancadares has passed CP3 and retains his 3rd place position. It's likely he has managed to get some rest, judging by his stoppage time.

The chasing riders Christian (6), Perseu (25) & Peter (26) (who were all stopped in Cercal do Alentejo last night) seem to have opted for different rest strategies. Christian and Perseu are neck and neck currently, however, Perseu has had about 5 hours extra rest. Will this give him the advantage today? Peter is 30km behind, but like Perseu has had more rest. They all head towards CP3 (607km).

Leading pair Bruno (52) and Gualter (53) chase front woman Hanna de Sousa. Having covered almost 470km, she too appears to have rested last night near the town of Vila Nova de Milfonts and heads north this morning along the coast to Porto Covo. The closest women Lisa (17) and Anne (4) (both from Germany) are seperated by 5km and are about 100km off Hanna. So far they have kept paced with each other throughout the race.

L'Abetarda's Clarissa Perks (67) may not infact be the lantern rouge. She has about 80km left to go and should hopefully finish later today. Clarissa currently appears to be riding near by the final 270 pair Marta (96) and Nuno (97), who might have stopped for some brekfast in the small village of Curiqe-Gare. Apologies to Marta and Nuno who on my previous update I missed. Great effort, keep going you three.

A few further scratches to report - Richardo Rodrigues (28), Micael Ferreira (13) and John Olofsson (14).

Fellow bird watchers / dot watchers, we have our first 750km course finisher - Marco Martins!

Marco has completed the route (7500m elevation) in a time of 37 hours and 55 minutes, just shy of his course record, set last year (37 hours and 34 minutes). An amazing effort, which sees him retain his Gravel Birds Ultracycling crown. I'm sure he will be glad to get some well earned rest now, having only stopped for less than two hours, the entire race. Well done Marco!

Currently in second place, Joao Pinto has approx. 110km left to cover and it looks likely he might continue cycling into the night. Rui Pancadares, sitting in 3rd, has now managed to gain about 40km on the chasing pack. Peter Minnaar (26) has joined the chase group, who all appear to be stopped in Cercal do Alentejo. It may be that they have decided to get some sleep. It will be interesting to see how their different strategies play out when we look at the dots again tomorrow.

The rest of the riders are also contemplating sleep, with some finding beautiful spots to bivy out under the stars.

Sleep well Gravel Birds.

It's now evening on Day 2 in Alentejo and the Gravel Birds have been taking in the stunning scenery and wildlife. The section of route after Serpa has been reported as a specific highlight. Riders have experienced gravel pigs, gravel horses and actual gravel birds, or for cap no. 4 Anne Schulze was it just the heat and fatigue playing tricks?!

As most of the 750 flock make their way towards CP2 (430km), the race leader Marco Martins (1) has taken a significant margin, passing CP3, covering 690km. All going well, it would look very likely that he will finish in the next few hours and retain his title. Joao Pinto who remains in 2nd is 115km behind. Both appear to have gone for a no sleep strategy (or maybe a quick power nap under a tree) having only stopped for 1 hour 44 minutes (5%) and 2 hours 35 minutes (7%), respectively. Joao has nearly reached CP3. In the battle for 3rd place Rui Pancadares (29), Perseu Mandillo (25) and Christian Paradisi (6) are currently seperated by 20km and appear to all have opted for a longer rest time, maybe getting some proper sleep last night, with stoppage times of approximately 6 hours. Could they catch Joao who is 85km ahead?

For the women Hanna de Sousa (37) has moved up into 16th overall and is 50km from CP2. Anne Schulze (4) is in 2nd and passing the Santa Clara Resevoir and Lisa Weichert (17) trails her by a mere kilometer.

All change in the 750 pairs race, Spanish pair 56 & 57, Ismael and Jorge, drop down into 3rd. Potuguese pair 52 & 53, Gaulter and Bruno, take a 35km lead on fellow Portugues pair 60 & 61, Luis and Goncalo.

All bar one of the 270 birds are now safely home. English rider, cap no. 26, Clarissa Perks, continues to make steady progress, keep flying Clarissa!! Winning pair 94 & 95, Antonio and Rui, who had taken an early lead before being over taken by Andre (92) and Ricardo (93), managed to pull it back.

Further updates to come as I anticipate our premiere 750 bird will be landing soon. #BirdWatching #PigWatching #DotWatching