JULY | AUGUST 2019 95MThe first season included rides in Ackerman, in Hattiesburg
at Camp Shelby, and in Bentonia. Registered riders num-
bered 162 for the three races. In 2018, more than 400 riders
participated in four events.
“The MGC offers a premier gravel experience with each
race in the series, offering 100- and 50-mile competitive
distances as well as a 25-mile fun ride,” according to an
MGC flyer. “The races are held in four parts of the state so
riders can enjoy different terrains for each race. Between
the varying grades of gravel and the ever-changing course
conditions, they provide just about anything a rider could
ask for in a gravel series.”
The 2020 race dates are January 11 in Oxford, January
25 in Hattiesburg, February 8 in Ackerman, and February
22 in Bentonia.
Alan attributes the success of the sport in the Magnolia
State to the Shearers who brought the first-of-its-kind grav-
el racing series to Mississippi. “There were a lot of people
dabbling in it,” he says. “But nobody had made a concerted
effort at that point to organize an event or a group of events
that were on the same level as Kansas and Private Idaho.”
The Shearers and Grant decided to establish the Missis-
sippi Gravel Cup as a way to showcase the state by holding
the races in different places. “Starkville has the National
Forest,” Wendi says. “We believe in Mississippi, and people
say we don’t have hills, but we do. You can find a lot of those
in Ackerman, and that’s where that first race was.” They
planned the next race at Camp Shelby. “Here you might ex-
perience a tank riding right beside you and maybe experi-
ence a helicopter as they are doing drills,” Wendi says.
The Bentonia ride is considered the home course. “Ben-
tonia is just beautiful,” she says. “It’s close to home, so we
consider it our home gravel trail for our long rides. You have
open areas and pretty embankments. It is gorgeous.”
Wendi also shares that having people from other states
come to Mississippi to race is an eye-opening experi-
ence. “Some of the first things we hear is ‘We had no idea
that Mississippi is so great,’ ‘We had no idea that you had
these hills,’ ‘We had no idea that it is so gorgeous,’ and ‘We
thought it was just cotton fields.’”
TOP TO BOTTOM: Racer Caroline Turner relaxes at the finish. Rac-
ers make their way through a foggy Bentonia course. Racers ready at
the start of the Bentonia race. A racer celebrates as she crosses the
finish line. OPPOSITE: The Bentonia course is full of hills and interest-
ing sights.
For more information, visit msgravelcup.com.