Gallery: The Migration Gravel Race

The inaugural stage race in Kenya brought riders from all over the globe to share an unforgettable experience in the Maasai Mara.

The dust has literally settled on the first ever Migration Gravel Race in the Maasai Mara of Kenya. Over the course of four stages, 61 riders from all over the world battled headwinds, extremely rough terrain, and broken bikes and bodies to complete 600 kilometers of the inaugural gravel race.

Yet, the statistics only paint a brushstroke of the whole picture.

The event organizer’s vision wasn’t simply to challenge cyclists with a race. It was to bring bike racing to a part of the world where athletes aren’t given many opportunities to compete, and to bring with it a field of talented riders from across the globe. It was to expose East Africans to gravel racing and offer them the opportunity to travel to its birthplace, the United States, if they reached the top of the podium. And it was to show everyone the beauty and tragedy of the Maasai culture, with its ancient wisdom and modern challenges.

Yes, we raced bikes, but we also shared meals, stories, and slept under the same starry ski. Over the course of all of this we became timu moja, one team.