
Show Notes
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 the leading men arriving at Checkpoint 1. Over the past two days many have had to square up to the race they'd imagined and recalibrate to the one in front of them.
Riders featured in this episode: Nathalie Schneitter — Cap 153 Kerry MacPhee — Cap 105 Max Riese — Cap 144 Sven Brenner — Cap 26 Ashley Cordingley — Cap 38 Christopher Rennie — Cap 142 Rob MacLennan — Cap 104 Manu Cattrysse — Cap 32 Steven Davis — Cap 44 Alexander Kopp — Cap 95 Justinas Leveika — Cap 100
Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.
Production & hosting by Mel Webb Sound design by Ben Crannell Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky
Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races
Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Mountain Races Podcast
Day two of the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race, and the field has well and truly spread out. A night of thunderstorms has left riders scraping peanut-butter mud from their tyres. Some slept on mosque verandas, in goat sheds and under concrete shelters. Others found a warm welcome from strangers, including a Syrian refugee family offering tea, dry clothes and a litter of kittens. We catch riders pushing up the hike-a-bike before CP1, chat with others as they head back out from the checkpoint, and follow them through the cedar forests and up onto the yaylas.
The first Taurus Mountain Race gets a baptism of rain, with 100 millimetres forecast for the first 24 hours. In places the track has turned to thick, sticky mud. We hear from riders as they settle into the adventure ahead.
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. Riders trickle in throughout the day outside The Beaver, a coffee shop on the beachfront boardwalk, collecting trackers and race caps while storm clouds gather over the mountains. With the route only revealed 48 hours ago and 100mm of rain in the forecast, the mood is equal parts excitement and nerves. We hear from first-timers and old friends from past Mountain Races, ahead of what will no doubt be an exciting first edition.
Not long now until the start of the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race…
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 shores of Issyk-Kul, at the finish line at Hotel Zeto. Riders roll in sun-weathered, filthy and running on empty — five spokes gone and a wheel rebuilt in Bishkek, blistered hands from one last descent of sand and cobbles, a phone broken on day two, a mascot named Beaker who's been everywhere and never had a wash. We greet them as they arrive on the final day of racing.