Entries are now open for the historical Ride the Trafalgar Way, which takes place for the first time on 17-18 October 2015. Ride the Trafalgar Way is positioned as an innovative, new cycling challenge starting in Falmouth, Cornwall, UK, and taking place on the weekend before Trafalgar Day – 21 October.
The 500K cycle sportive, named Colossus after one of the ships involved in the Battle of Trafalgar, invites relay teams to collectively take on the momentous ride from Pendennis Point to the Admiralty, London. But the real challenge is clear when you look at how long in which teams have to do it, a mere 24 hours.
Origins
Ride the Trafalgar Way closely follows the historic route of 1805 in which Lieutenant Lapenotière rode post-chaise (a horse-drawn carriage used for transporting passengers or mail, especially in the 18th and early 19th centuries) for 37 hours. He was carrying important dispatches to the Admiralty, London, with the news of victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson.
Jim Bellinger, Event Director of Ride the Trafalgar Way said, “The idea came to me a few years ago after a friend mentioned a map had been produced to commemorate the bicentennial of the route and also cleared up the mystery of a number of road signs for ‘Trafalgar Way’ around my home town, Salisbury.”
He continued, “Intrigued I decided to find out more, and it was here that I learnt all about the historical route from Falmouth to London, which is just under 500km long. As an experienced Event Director and keen cyclist I set out to find out how to make it into a big cycling challenge, and so am really excited to reach this point.”
Jim and Team Trafalgar have been working hard for the past few years to locate the very best roads on the route, and ensure that the event closely follows Lieutenant Lapenotière’s historic journey and as safely as possible. And not only that, for individuals preferring shorter distance events, there will also be three independent sportives all running over the same weekend.
Trafalgar Way Colossus: Falmouth to London
Trafalgar Way Britannia: Falmouth to Exeter
Trafalgar Way Conqueror: Exeter to Salisbury
Trafalgar Way Victory: Salisbury to London
Jim continued, “We decided to introduce three smaller sportives to accompany ‘Colossus’ in which to offer something for everyone. Not everybody will feel ready to take on the full thing as a team, and we thought it would be a great idea to offer more people the opportunity to enjoy the historical route, and experience our exciting event.”
Entries are now open via the event website and there is an early bird discount for the next 21 days.
