About Unbound Gravel
Unbound Gravel is held on the first weekend in June with five racing distances, including the signature 200-mile event on Saturday with an early morning mass-start for men and women in downtown Emporia, Kansas. All the routes take in rugged roads in the Flint Hills of Kansas, defined by sharp rocks and hilly terrain across the Tallgrass Prairie in the middle of the US.
Unbound Gravel 100 sets out in the hours after the 200 mile event, providing a competitive, shorter-distance option, designed to serve as a “stepping stone” towards the Unbound Gravel 200. There are also shorter distances and a junior race, plus, at the other extreme, there is the 350 mile long Unbound Gravel XL which starts on Friday.
Unique aspects of the races include the remote roads used for routes through vast prairie lands, the checkpoints participants must locate to follow the correct course, and a “do not call us” policy for breakdowns and injuries.
Unbound Gravel 200 is also the first gravel race in the seven event Life Time Grand Prix series and the second stop after the cross-country race at Sea Otter, Fuego XL.
In 2023 Carolin Schiff won the elite women's category of Unbound Gravel 200, forging clear of 2022 winner Sofia Gomez Villafañe with 60 miles of the race still left. Villafañe, in second, was the leading Life Time Grand Prix rider.
Keegan Swenson took out the men's elite race, on his way to the overall Life Time Grand Prix series victory as well, sprinting to victory out of the leading group of seven. Petr Vakoc was second and Lachlan Morton third.
In the Unbound Gravel 100 19-year-old David Brower won the men’s race while Tiffany Cromwell rode across the line solo to claim the women's title.
Join Cyclingnews' coverage of the 2024 Unbound Gravel with race reports, news and analysis.
