Sell-out success for early season Wiggle sportives

If the Wiggle sponsored cycle sportive events are anything to go by, cycling in the UK has never been so popular. All four of the early season Wiggle sportives have been sell-out successes with riders travelling from far and wide to take part. With two more events on the calendar this weekend – the Wiggle Super Series Ups and Downs MTB Ride and Sportive (on April 30 and May 1 respectively) – riders are certainly spoiled for choice.

Already this year thousands of cyclists have been enjoying the fun atmosphere of Wiggle-sponsored events. The Wiggle Cheshire Cat – widely regarded as the UK season’s first “super sportive” – saw all of its 3,000 tickets snapped up days in advance. This UCI sanctioned event, which is organised by KILO TO GO and starts from the Alexandra Stadium in Crewe, enjoyed great weather and phenomenal crowd support with the riders loving the course and all of its challenges, as the event video shows.

The New Forest Spring Sportive – part of the Wiggle Super Series – also sold out weeks in advance and proved so popular that an extra event, the New Forest Saturday Spring Sportive, was added by organisers UK Cycling Events. More than 2,000 riders took part in the events, held in Brockenhurst on April 16 and 17, which included the New Forest Spring Mountain Bike Ride. The MTB ride attracted lots of families, with the youngest participant aged just two years old in a tag-along trailer.

The weekend before, more than 1,000 riders took part in the Wiggle Cornwall Tor, which is Cornwall’s biggest sportive and certainly one of the UK’s most beautiful, with all routes taking in the panorama of the North Atlantic coastline and the gentle southern coastline at Looe. With the challenging climb up Millook too, the ride is breathtaking in more ways than one.

Event director Simon Thomson, of KILO TO GO, said:

“It has been fantastic to see so many riders out on their bikes enjoying the first events in our series. Feedback has been terrific and we are hugely excited about the rest of the season. If you’ve not signed up for one of our events yet, there are still plenty of opportunities. We have Wiggle Flatout in the Fens on June 26, Wiggle Tour of the Peak on August 14, The Wiggle Rut on September 25 and Wiggle Wild Edric as a season finale on October 29. It’s going to be a year to remember!”

The first event in Wiggle’s 2011 calendar was the ground-breaking No Excuses Sportive on March20, which is part of the Wiggle Super Series and organised by UK Cycling Events. It was free to enter, with riders only being charged an entry fee if they failed to show up on the day.

Martin Barden, of UK Cycling Events, said:

“The feedback from riders at this event was exceptional – they loved it! We had 1,200 entries and 1,000 riders show up on the day, so we estimate we have raised about £4,000 for the NSPCC. We are now looking forward to the next events in the Wiggle Super Series including this weekend’s Ups and Downs MTB Ride and Sportive in Dorking as well as the Jurassic Beast in Purbecks on May 8 and the Bournemouth Sportive on May 22.To get a real flavour of a Wiggle Super Series event, check out the No Excuses Sportive video.”