Ready for the slaughter? British Gravel Champs reveals tough new Scots course

The British Gravel Championships has found a new home on the trails of the Gralloch UCI race in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Riders will take on a tough 87.5km course with big climbs —including the ominously named Slaughter Hill— in pursuit of the red, white and blue bands.

It will be held this year in conjunction with the Raiders Gravel event after its original host event, the Kings Cup in Suffolk, was cancelled due to forestry fees, which would have approached 20% of event revenue and posed "an existential threat to the event," according to the organisers.

All entries for the Kings Cup, which would have been held at the King's Forest near Thetford, remain valid for the Scottish relocation while a full refund is also available for those unable to travel.

Raiders Gravel is an annual three-day gravel event and, like the Gralloch, is based on the small town of Gatehouse of Fleet.

This year's British Gravel Championship is held on the second 'Grannoch' stage on Saturday, August 31 — two weeks earlier than the original championship date. The Scots course is 87.5km (54.3 miles) long and finishes at the Big Water of Fleet viaduct.

Unlike the broadly flat Kings Cup event, the Scottish version features numerous tough climbs, including the 7-kilometer-long Fuffock Hill and Slaughter Hill, with further difficult ascents towards the end of the race.

The Grannoch is sandwiched between the first Raiders stage —Clatteringshaws— and the third, which is called Skerrow.

"This relocation ensures that our community will still have the opportunity to compete and crown the season's champions," wrote Kings Cup organisers on the event website. "While plans for a new 2025 venue are already at an advanced stage (but not yet ready to unveil), we needed to be pragmatic to find an interim solution and ensure a 2024 event could still take place."

The championship weekend features races for elite, junior and masters age group riders, who all race over the same 87.5km distance.

Last year's British Gravel Championship saw young pretender Joe Blackmore (Team Inspired) power away from Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) in the final of the men's race, while Xan Crees (Spectra-Cannondale) outsprinted defending champion Danni Shrosbree (Amius DAS-Handsling) in the women's event.

Blackmore has since signed full-time with the Israel-PremierTech team, where he has already racked up four wins in his first season.