Velo South - 100-mile closed road sportive around Sussex officially launched

Velo South, a new 100-mile closed road sportive starting and finishing at GoodWood in West Sussex  officially launched today at the London Bike Show today. 

The event takes place on the 23rd of September and over 25,000 people have already pre-registered. Entry for the 15,000 actual places on the ride opens on March 1 (next Thursday) and given the level of pre-reg interest they’re expected to go fast. 

So what can you expect from the route if you enter? Well, for starters there is 1700 metres of climbing over the whole 100 mile route and this being Southern England that climbing is going to be spread out over a lot of lumpy miles rather a couple big climbs interspersed with fast flats - like you’d get on the continent. This will be a test of a particularly British kind through some beautiful countryside, but it will be a test.

We haven't got the detailed route yet, so some of what follows might change but to give you an idea of what sort of a challenge the ride is likely to be, we asked Vecchiojo to give us the benefit of his local knowledge on what we know of the route so far:

“The amount of people that have struggled with Sussex thinking it's flat down south is quite high… also the nature of the climbs plays with people, you've got short sharp grunts and long steady drags that go on for miles, literally”

“Chichester sits at the bottom of the Downs so there's always a climb out, unless you go South, but the southern slopes of the Downs tend to rise up gently as opposed to the northern scarp which is shorter and a lot steeper (you'll discover this on the way back) so it'll be a nice climb onto the hills, and a great view if the sun's out

“From there it’s looks like you'll join the main A road to Petworth - some feat by the organisers if that’s closed, so possibly they’ve got an alternative route - if  the route is on the road at Petworth it’s wide, but it climbs up a fold in the Downs and is a steady climb, hope for a tailwind, the descent off Duncton Down is fast and requires care at the bottom as there's some interesting corners, then it's rolling fast roads to Pulborough

“It’s fast roads again as you head south east towards Henfield and you turn north onto the more secret Sussex roads where you'll discover that even though you're off the Downs it's not flat, at all. This part of Sussex, the Weald is famous for its relentlessly lumpy terrain with some short sharp climbs and descents to deal with…

“There's a flat bit at 80 miles as you cross the flood plain near Petersfield, you'll want to rest you legs a little here as there's that climb up the north face of the Downs to deal with the climb out of South Harting, it's the last big challenge of the day and a cheeky little hill, and fun to do with nearly 90 miles in the legs, there appears to be a KOM challenge up here, so you know, give it your best.”

Anything else we should know Jo?

“It looks to take in all the best that Sussex has to offer, the rolling South Downs via both the easy way up and the hard way, and some of the quiet country lanes that criss-cross the Weald like a spider's web, there will be times when you'll not believe you're in one of the most populated parts of the country.    that said there's a bit to much of main road for me (as is the way of sportives and the need to shift herds quickly) but if they're closed for the event they'll be an absolute blast.

Velo South Starts and finishes at the Goodwood Circuit - we’re guessing with a Paris Roubaix lap at the finish. If you know your cycling history you’ll also know that Goodwood hosted the 1982 Cycling World Championships - and in a pleasing touch, Mandy Jones who won the women’s race for Great Britain was at the launch today. 

The price of entry hasn’t been announced yet, but the event is being staged by the organisers of Velo Birmingham - which returns with a new closed road route round the West Midlands next year. Velo Birmingham 2017 cost £75 for a standard entry or £115 for fast track entries plus booking fees of £3.75 and £5.75 respectively. We’d expect entries to cost something in that region also - as a comparison this year’s Ride London/Surrey costs £69 to enter - slightly less but you do have to share the roads with a lot more people. 

Velo South is also offering 100 team entries to businesses - which includes a training ride around Goodwood with former England rugby captain (whose pretty keen on cycling) Martin Johnson. You can apply for an entry to ride and raise money for one of their charity partners - Alzheimer’s Society, British Heart Foundation, or Age UK West Sussex.

To find out more visit the Velo South website at www.velosouth.com